Management and delivery of over-the-top services over different content-streaming systems

ABSTRACT

Provided is a system that includes a circuit to generate an interactive item based on a request received from a first distribution network or a second distribution network. The interactive item is overlaid over a media item present in media content. The circuit then activates the generated interactive item overlaid over the media item of the media content. Further, the circuit receives an event trigger, from a client application engine operational on a user device associated with a user, for a selection of the activated interactive item. A personalized list is generated for the event trigger for the selection of the interactive item. Further, the generated personalized list is transmitted for a display for a defined time duration, to one of the first distribution network, the second distribution network or the client application engine operational on the user device.

REFERENCE

This application is a continuation of and claims priority to U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 17/408,739, filed on Aug. 23, 2021, which is aDivisional Application of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 15/986,451filed May 22, 2018, now issued as U.S. Pat. No. 11,245,964, which claimspriority to, and claims benefit from U.S. Provisional Patent ApplicationSer. No. 62/511,190, filed on May 25, 2017.

This Application also makes reference to: U.S. application Ser. No.15/988,572 filed on May 24, 2018.

Each of the above applications is hereby incorporated herein byreference in its entirety.

FIELD OF TECHNOLOGY

Certain embodiments of the present disclosure relate to over-the-top(OTT) services delivery systems. More specifically, certain embodimentsof the present disclosure relate to the management and delivery of OTTservices over different content-streaming systems.

BACKGROUND

Recent technological advancements in media delivery have paved the wayfor promoters to target relevant audiences through the delivery ofpromotional content related to products or services across differentmedia networks, such as linear networks, VOD networks and mobilenetworks. The media networks maintain a curated repository of mediacontent that is delivered to users across different media platformsunder the proprietorship of the media network. The media content isdistributed in accordance with a schedule that includes slots dedicatedto the promotional content of products or services. The slots can beplaced between two segments of the media content or delivered over adefined region of the media content.

The media networks that are proprietors of the media content provideviewership information of the delivered promotional content toassociated promotional networks. However, the viewership informationdoes not disclose the intent or interest of the target audience tosubscribe to the products or services. Additionally, promoters thatprefer to target audiences, for specific periods in a day, want theintent or interest of the viewer in associated products or services forthe granular periods of time. For example, a restaurant chain may wishto target audiences at different periods of time, the as beforebreakfast time, lunch time, and dinner time, to increase the possibilityof viewers purchasing from the restaurant. Moreover, the promoters mayrequest to improve the intent of the target audience to purchasepromoted products or services.

Currently, the intent to purchase is measured through the detection ofimpressions or clicks on a promoted media content. However, as theattention span of the audience is short and varied, the impressions orclicks result in lower conversion rates. The impressions or clicks arean imperfect measure of intent during a time when the audience has atransient attention span. The current solutions are inefficient tomeasure as well as significantly improve the intent or interest of usersto purchase the products or services that are promoted through thepromotional content. The current solutions disregard the factor oftransient attention span that affects the conversion rate of the targetaudience. Solutions that transform the transient attention to selectivesustained attention for viewed promotional content are generallydisregarded, and therefore, the intent or the attention span is notimproved.

Further limitations and disadvantages of conventional and traditionalapproaches will become apparent to one skill in the art, throughcomparison of the systems with some aspects of the present disclosure asset forth in the remainder of the present application with reference tothe drawings.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE DISCLOSURE

Systems and/or methods are provided for the management and delivery ofOTT-services over different′ content-streaming systems, substantially asshown in and/or described in connection with at least one of thefigures, as set forth more completely in the claims.

These and other advantages, aspects and novel features of the presentdisclosure, as well as details of an illustrated embodiment thereof,will be more fully understood from the following description anddrawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1A is a block diagram that illustrates an exemplary networkenvironment for content provider-managed delivery of OTT-servicesthrough client application engines managed by the content provider, inaccordance with an exemplary embodiment of the disclosure.

FIG. 1B is a block diagram that illustrates an exemplary networkenvironment for delivery of OTT services on third-service-providerclient application engines that stream media content fromthird-service-provider content providers, in accordance with anexemplary embodiment of the disclosure.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram that illustrates an exemplary event triggermanagement system under different operational configurations, fordelivery of OTT services through client application engines, inaccordance with an exemplary embodiment of the disclosure.

FIG. 3A is a flow chart that illustrates exemplary operations forcontent provider-managed delivery of OTT services through clientapplication engines managed by the content provider, in accordance withan exemplary embodiment of the disclosure.

FIG. 3B is a flow chart that illustrates exemplary operations for adetermination of media items, scheduled for insertion in media contentof a distribution network managed by a first service provider, inaccordance with an exemplary embodiment of the disclosure.

FIG. 4A and FIG. 4B is a flow chart that illustrates exemplaryoperations for controlled delivery of OTT services for event triggersfrom third-service-provider client application engines that stream mediacontent from third-service-provider content providers, by the exemplarytrigger event management system of FIG. 2 , in accordance with anexemplary embodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 5 is a flow chart that illustrates exemplary operations forcontrolled delivery of OTT services for event triggers fromthird-service-provider client application engines that stream mediacontent from third-service-provider content providers on non-proprietarymedia networks, by the exemplary trigger event management system of FIG.2 , in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the presentdisclosure.

FIG. 6 is a flow chart that illustrates exemplary operations forcontrolled delivery of OTT services for event triggers fromthird-service-provider client application engines that stream mediacontent from third-service-provider content providers, by the exemplarytrigger event management system of FIG. 2 , in accordance with ananother exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 7A is a block diagram that illustrates generation and display of apersonalized list at a user interface of a user device, under control ofthe event trigger management system of FIG. 2 , in accordance with anembodiment of the disclosure.

FIG. 7B is a block diagram that illustrates a user interface at a userdevice that facilitates display of personalized lists with userselectable options on multiple user devices, in accordance with anembodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 7C is a block diagram that illustrates a user interface at a userdevice that facilitates sharing of personalized lists or list items onsocial platforms under control of the event trigger management system ofFIG. 2 , in accordance with an embodiment of the disclosure.

FIG. 7D is a block diagram that illustrates a user interface at a userdevice that provides a request to the event trigger management system ofFIG. 2 to reverse bid on products or services offerings displayed in apersonalized list, in accordance with an embodiment of the disclosure.

FIG. 7E is a block diagram that illustrates a user interface at a userdevice that provides a request to the event trigger management system ofFIG. 2 , to purchase products or services offerings displayed in apersonalized list, in accordance with an embodiment of the disclosure.

FIG. 8 is a conceptual diagram that illustrates an example of a hardwareimplementation for the event trigger management system of FIG. 2 thatemploys a processing system for delivery of OTT services on clientapplication engines that stream media content from different contentproviders, in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE DISCLOSURE

Certain embodiments of the present disclosure may be found in a methodand system for the management and delivery of over the top (OTT)services through client applications that stream media content fromdifferent distribution networks. The media content that is streamedthrough different distribution networks may include programming mediacontent (for example, television shows, live sports, etc.) andnon-programming media items. Examples of the media items may include,but are not limited to, video advertisements, audio advertisements(within podcasts), logos, tickers, bugs, banners, popups, lower thirdgraphics (also referred to as ⅓^(rd) graphics), and sliders. Theinteractive items may be overlaid over the media content at specifieddurations as graphic overlays that may behave as responsive buttons oruser-selectable buttons, which may be overlaid over the media items, tofurther receive selections from the user. Every user selection may beregarded as an intent to engage with a product or service offering withthe media item, and therefore, a personalized list may be generated andfurther activated with options for the user, to request different OTTservices, such as direct purchases, one-click buy, reverse bid on listitems in the personalized list, or share on social platforms. As a usermay wish to keep a track of the interested product or service offeringsthat are promoted with some of the media items, a personalized list maybe required that records every selection of the user, gets updated withreal-time selections, provides options to the user to request OTTservices for specific list items.

The OTT services may be delivered based on event triggers that may bereceived based on a selection of interactive items overlaid over mediaitems of the streamed media content. The OTT services are services thatallow a media content provider to provide audio, video, and other mediaservices (for example, purchase, payment, social sharing, or reversebidding on products advertised in advertisements) to a consumer over theinternet via streaming media, bypassing telecommunications, cable orbroadcast television service providers that traditionally act as acontroller or distributor of such content. Further, the service provideror an entity that delivers the OTT service may not own a distributionnetwork through which the OTT service is delivered. In some cases, theservice provider or an entity that delivers the OTT service maypartially or completely own a distribution network through which the OTTservice is delivered. For example, a service provider or an entity thatdelivers the OTT service may deliver the OTT service through a networkowned by a different service provider.

One of the challenges relates to a delivery of OTT services to the userwhen the user watches media content on a client application, where themedia content and the client application engine are managed by the samedistribution network that further manages the service provider. Anotherchallenge relates to a delivery of OTT services to the user when theuser watches media content on a client application, where the mediacontent and the client application engines are managed by distributionnetworks other than the self-managed distribution network. Thus, thereis a need to deliver different OTT services over the top of the mediacontent in a way that the delivery is independent of who manages themedia content or the client application.

FIG. 1A is a block diagram that illustrates an exemplary networkenvironment for content provider-managed delivery of OTT servicesthrough client application engines managed by the content provider, inaccordance with an exemplary embodiment of the disclosure. The servicesmay include options for users to purchase, reverse bid or sharepreferences on different platforms based on user interactions andassociated product or service preferences of the user. In FIG. 1 , thereis shown a network environment 100 that comprises a distribution network104, which may further comprise an event trigger management system 102,a content delivery network (hereinafter “CDN”) 106, a live media server110, a Video-On-Demand (VOD) media server 112, and a scheduler system114. The network environment 100 may further comprise a media itemsserver 108, a user device 116, one or more delivery devices 120, areverse bidding server 122 and a social media server 124 that may becommunicatively coupled to the distribution network 104, via acommunication network 126. Additionally, a user 118 may be associatedwith the user device 116 and the one or more delivery devices 120.

The event trigger management system 102 may comprise suitable logic,circuitry, and interfaces that may be configured to present interactiveoptions on media items, such as promotional graphics, or promotionalvideos, which may be inserted with the media content streamed on theuser device 116. Based on the selection of the interactive options, theevent trigger management system 102 may manage delivery of one or moreservices (also referred to as OTT services) to the user 118. In certainembodiments, the event trigger management system 102 may manage deliveryof a plurality of services to the user 118, through the user device 116.Hereinafter, “a plurality of services” or “a plurality of OTT services”may be referred to as “services” for the sake of brevity. The servicesmay be delivered to the user 118 through the user device 116 or the oneor more delivery devices 120 associated with the user 118. In accordancewith an embodiment, the event trigger management system 102 may beimplemented as an event signaling and management server (ESAM) thatoperates on different control signals, which may be stored in memoryunits of media servers dedicated for the distribution network 104. Inaccordance with an embodiment, the event trigger management system 102may be implemented as a dedicated control circuitry in the media serversdedicated for the distribution network 104. Operations of the eventtrigger management system 102 may be managed or operated via rules,policies and definitions specified by the distribution network 104.

The distribution network 104 for media content may be owned and managedby a first service provider that further owns and manages the eventtrigger management system 102 and the client application engine 116A,operational at the user device 116. The distribution network 104 maycomprise suitable logic, circuitry, and interfaces that may beconfigured to stream the media content to the client application engine116A, operational at the user device 116, based on a request from theuser 118. The distribution network 104 may serve as a content andservice delivery and management platform for the first service providerto further render OTT services to different users that may be engagedwith the client application engine 116A or the media content of thedistribution network 104. The distribution network 104 is responsiblefor content storage, content encoding, encrypting and packaging, contentand service delivery on different client application engines that accessthe media content on different user devices. The user device may havecross-platform integration with other delivery platforms on otherdelivery devices.

The CDN 106 may be part of the distribution network 104, andaccordingly, owned and managed by the first service provider thatfurther manages the distribution network 104. The CDN 106 may often bereferred to as a backend of the distribution network 104, which maycomprise a distribution channel, such as a frequency-based distributionchannel for a broadcast-based distribution channel, an internet-baseddistribution channel, or an IPTV-based distribution channel. Examples ofthe distribution channel may include, but are not limited to, atelevision channel, a radio channel, a webcasting channel, a socialwebcasting, and an IP-based channel that may be hosted on a webpage or aclient application. The CDN 106 may comprise a distributed and networkedchain of one or more media servers, media packagers, media itemmanagers, media ingesters, encoder/decoders, processing engines,schedulers, and subscription management and payment systems. The CDN 106may be configured to operate as an access platform for a VOD platform, aVOD2Live platform, or linear platforms, for example, broadcast ormulticast, such as via an over-the-air content delivery/distributionnetwork, a linear content delivery/distribution network, a cable contentdelivery/distribution network, a satellite content delivery/distributionnetwork, an Internet Protocol (IP) based content delivery/distributionnetwork, and the like.

The media items server 108 may be managed by a third service providerthat may be different from the first service provider and may be furthercommunicatively coupled to the distribution network 104, via thecommunication network 126. The media items server 108 may comprisesuitable logic, circuitry, and interfaces that may be configured tostore and distribute one or more media items for insertion within one ormore slots of the media content, to media packagers at the CDN 106 ofthe distribution network 104. In certain embodiments, the media itemsserver 108 may provide a plurality of media items for insertion within aplurality of slots in the media content. Hereinafter, “the plurality ofmedia items” may be interchangeably referred to as “media items.” Themedia items may be provided to the CDN 106, to package the media itemswith the media content of the distribution network 104. The media itemsserver 108 may be part of a media item network that may be associatedwith media item providers, such as advertisers, product/service owners,and content providers. A repository of the media items may be managed bythe media items server 108, in which each media item may correspond topromotional content for an offering, such as a product offering or aservice offering.

The live media server 110 may be a part of the distribution network 104that further owns and manages the event trigger management system 102and the client application engine 116A on the user device 116. The livemedia server 110 may comprise suitable logic, circuitry, and interfacesthat may be configured to store and distribute live media content, suchas a live broadcast feed from a distribution channel of the distributionnetwork 104, to the user device 116, through the CDN 106 of thedistribution network 104. The live media server 110 may becommunicatively coupled to the CDN 106 and the event trigger managementsystem 102, to detect each of the media items that may be played in realtime. Further, the live media server 110 may store live media data foreach segment of the live media content. The standard to store the livemedia data may be defined by ISO/IEC13818-1 (MPEG-2). A closed captiondata and one or more inbound triggers for the live media stream may bestored in the live media server 110. The live program data may store amedia content identifier, a title of a media streamed via thedistribution network 104, a segment wise or complete summary of themedia streamed via the distribution network 104, a file format,encryption information, a length of the media content, a date and/ortime the media content was added to the catalog of media content, and amedia content class, for example, a television show, a cartoon program,a movie, a news media, an episode, a game, a clip, a recorded sportsevent, interactive media, and/or the like.

The VOD media server 112 may be a part of the distribution network 104that further owns and manages the event trigger management system 102and the client application engine 116A. The VOD media server 112 maycomprise suitable logic, circuitry, and interfaces that may beconfigured to store and distribute VOD media content, such as VODcontent assembled based on preferences of the user 118, to the userdevice 116, through the CDN 106 of the distribution network 104. The VODmedia content may correspond to on-demand media content, for example,movies, music videos, clips of various shows or programs, which may beassembled, packaged, and viewed as on-demand live content by the user118. The VOD media server 112 may be a VOD2Live system, which may becommunicatively coupled to the CDN 106 and the event trigger managementsystem 102, to detect the media items that may be played in real timewith the VOD media content. The slots for playback of the media itemsmay be pre-scheduled for the VOD media content, and therefore, eachmedia item may be determined from records of the media items.

Further, the VOD media server 112 may store VOD media data, which may beassociated with a storage standard. The storage standard may be definedby ISO/IEC 13818-1 (MPEG-2). Closed caption data and one or more inboundtriggers for the VOD media content may be stored in the VOD media server112. The VOD program data may store a VOD media content identifier, atitle of the VOD media content, a summary of the VOD content, a fileformat, encryption information, length of the media content, a dateand/or time the media content was added to the catalog of media content,a new content indicator for the media content (e.g., a new VOD assetthat became available within the last 24 hours, last few days, lastweek, and/or the like), and a media content class, for example, atelevision show, a cartoon program, a movie, a news media, an episode, agame, a clip, a recorded sports event, interactive media, and/or thelike.

The scheduler system 114 may be a part of the distribution network 104that may be owned and managed by the first service provider, whichfurther owns and manages the distribution network 104 and the clientapplication engine 116A. The scheduler system 114 may comprise suitablelogic, circuitry, and interfaces that may be configured to manage, storeand generate a schedule for a playback of the media items and theprogramming media content in a schedule database 114A. The schedule maycomprise a playback start time, a playback end time, playback duration,a responsive/playback behavior, context tags, item IDs, and othermetadata for each of the media items. The schedule may be furtherpartially or fully mapped in client manifests and associated itemidentifiers (for example, Ad-IDs) for the media items. The generatedschedule for the media content may define which media item may bescheduled for which slot. The schedule may be based on various factors,such as topics, sentiments, user constraints, media constraints,audience or user preferences, or social media data. In accordance withan embodiment, the scheduler system 114 may generate a data file, suchas a text file or an XML file, which may map each media item tospecified playback duration, the item identifier or the offeringspromoted through the media item. The scheduler system 114 may receive amedia streaming schedule for the user 118 from the distribution network104 and may modify the received media streaming schedule to dynamicallygenerate a schedule driven by aforementioned factors in real time ornear-real time.

The schedule database 114A may comprise suitable logic, circuitry, andinterfaces that may be configured to modify and store records thatcorrespond to the schedule of the media items and programs (or theprogramming media content). The schedule database 114A may further storeand update the schedule, such as the playback start time, the playbackend time, the playback duration, and attributes, such as the itemidentifier, context tags, title, offering (product offering or serviceoffering) information, uniform resource indicators (URIs), or URLs, orassociated graphics and metadata, for each media item in the scheduledatabase 114A. The attributes may be retrieved from the attributedatabase of the media items server 108. The schedule database 114A maybe a structured or an unstructured database that may be manageable via adatabase management system. The database management system for theschedule database 114A may be a relational database management system ora non-relational database management system. The relational databasemanagement system may define a relational or a structured schema (forexample Structured Query Language (SQL)) for the schedule database 114A.Alternatively, the non-relational database management system may definea non-relational or an unstructured schema (for example Non-SQL (NoSQL))for storage of the schedule database 114A.

The user device 116 may comprise suitable logic, circuitry, andinterfaces that may be configured to execute operations to stream,decode, and execute playback of the media content at the user device116. The media content may further include the programming media contentembedded with the media items. The operations may be executed by variousoperational components of the user device 116 in conjunction with agraphical processing unit (GPU) or a graphical computation circuitrywithin the user device 116. Examples of the operations may include, butare not limited to, media decryption, encoding overlay interactiveitems, responsive behavior of overlay interactive items, media contentdecoding, secure authentication, content recognition, and usernotifications. In accordance with an embodiment, the user device 116 mayfacilitate the presentation of the media content as well as personalizedlists of offerings through peripheral display devices, for example,televisions and standalone display screens. For such configurations, theuser device 116 may be a media player device without a display screen,for example, Amazon Fire TV, Apple TV, Android TV, and Amazon FireStick. In other embodiments, the user device 116 may be integrated withthe display device. Examples of the user device 116 may include, but arenot limited to, a Set-Top-Box (STB), an IPTV, a hybrid box, a cableconverter, a smartphone, a laptop, and a tablet, a smart TV, an internetTV, a portable console-based media player.

The user device 116 may be associated with a device identifier that maybe a unique identifier for the user 118 associated with the user device116. The device identifier may be used by the event trigger managementsystem 102 to discretely personalize delivery of the media content andthe interactive items at the user device 116. Examples of the deviceidentifier may include, but are not limited to, an International MobileEquipment Identity (IMEI) number, Android ID, Apple ID, AdvertisingIdentifier (IDFA), Advertising Identifier (AID), Unique DeviceIdentifier (UDID), mobile number, and medium access control (MAC)identifier (MacID). The user device 116 may receive the media stream ofthe media content, via a distribution channel. Examples of thedistribution channel may include, but are not limited to, satellitebroadcast, cable distribution, an IPTV network, and digital terrestrialtelevision network.

A client application engine 116A may be further configured on the userdevice 116 and may be communicatively coupled to the display deviceassociated with the user device 116. It may be noted that the clientapplication engine 116A may be shown to be integrated with the userdevice 116; however, those skilled in the art would appreciate that theclient application engine 116A may be present on a cloud or remoteapplication server.

The client application engine 116A may be managed and operated by thefirst service provider that further owns, operates, and manages allcomponents of the distribution network 104. The client applicationengine 116A may comprise suitable logic, circuitry, and interfaces thatmay be configured to operate as a computational engine of a media playerfor the playback of the media content as received from the CDN 106 ofthe distribution network 104. The client application engine 116A mayfacilitate the playback of the media content and an overlay ofinteractive items over the media content. The playback of the mediacontent may facilitate a reception of event triggers for the selectionof the overlaid interactive items. The operations at the clientapplication engine 116A may be coordinated and managed by the eventtrigger management system 102. In one scenario, the client applicationengine 116A may be associated with a media application, such as a webapplication or a mobile media application, which may further comprise amedia player to play the media content and overlay interactive itemsbased on control signals from the event trigger management system 102.

The one or more delivery devices 120 may comprise suitable logic,circuitry, and interfaces that may be configured to receive and/orrender at least a personalized list and associated promotional contentover at least one delivery platform accessible on the one or moredelivery devices 120. The one or more delivery platforms may be acommunication platform that may incorporate visual, audible or anexecutable data to provide at least the personalized list or associatedpromotional content to the user 118. Examples of the one or moredelivery platforms may include, but are not limited to, an emailplatform, a mobile messaging platform, a web platform, a podcast, and apush notification-based platform. The promotional content or thepersonalized list may be received by the one or more delivery devices120, to notify the user 118 about the selections of the productofferings or service offerings, which may be selected by the user 118during playback of the media content. Examples of the one or moredelivery devices 120 may include smartphones, smart TVs, tablets, smartwatches, and other portable or non-portable devices.

The reverse bidding server 122 may comprise suitable logic, circuitry,and interfaces that may be configured to facilitate the user 118 toreverse bid on one or more list items in the generated personalizedlist. The reverse bid may be utilized for a negotiation with one or moresellers, to purchase or rent the offering added in the personalizedlist. The one or more list items may correspond to product offerings orservice offerings that may be promoted with the media content of thedistribution network 104. For example, a user (Rob) may select aninteractive item, such as a graphical slider button, which may beoverlaid over a media item, such as a banner of a “Smartphone InsurancePlan” offering. The user (Rob) may intend to provide a quote on adesired investment sum of “2 USD per month” for the service offeringwith an investment period of “24 months.” The personalized list may beprovisioned with a user-selectable option to provide a reverse bid to aseller of the service offering. The reverse bid may correspond to aprice that the user (Rob) is willing to pay for the product. Based onthe provided reverse bid on the product offering, the seller may acceptor reject the reverse bid. Alternatively, the seller may be facilitatedwith an option to renegotiate on the reverse bid on the productoffering. The provision to provide and negotiate over the price of theproduct offering may be managed by the reverse bidding server 122 withdue access of the client application engine 116A or associated one ormore delivery devices 120.

The social media server 124 may comprise suitable logic, circuitry, andinterfaces that may be configured to facilitate the user 118 to sharethe one or more list items in the personalized list to a group of userson a social platform. The social platform may correspond to a networkingplatform where a group of users can network and/or interact with eachother. For example, a chat application or a social networking websitemay be a social platform for the user 118. The one or more list itemsmay correspond to the product offerings or the service offerings thatmay be promoted with the media content of the distribution network 104.For example, a user (Bob) may select an interactive item, such as agraphical swipe-button, that may be overlaid over a media item, such asa logo of a “Health Capsule Brand” within the video advertisement of the“Health Capsule Brand.” The user (Bob) may intend to share a purchase orpool funds for the product offering. The personalized list may beprovisioned with a user-selectable option to share a list item for the“Health Capsule” on the social platform. The user (Bob) may provide arequest to the social media server 124, to pool funds for a sharedproduct offering on the social platform. The social media server 124 maygenerate notifications for the user based on addition of funds to a fundpool or responses on the shared list item. The provision to share andpool funds for the product offering may be managed by the social mediaserver 124.

The communication network 126 may comprise suitable logic, circuitry,and interfaces that may be configured to provide a plurality of networkports and a plurality of communication channels for transmission andreception of communication data. The communication data may correspondto data received and/or exchanged, via the communication network 126,among the event trigger management system 102, distribution network 104,the CDN 106, the user device 116, the reverse bidding server 122, andthe social media server 124. Each network port may be associated with avirtual address (or a physical machine address) for the transmission andreception of the communication data. For example, the virtual addressmay be an Internet Protocol version 4 (IPV4) or an Internet Protocolversion 6 (IPV6) address and the physical address may be a media accesscontrol (MAC) address.

The communication data may be transmitted via a communication protocol.Examples of the communication protocol may include, but are not limitedto, a Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP), a File Transfer Protocol(FTP), a Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP), a Domain Name Server(DNS) protocol, and a Common Management Information Protocol (CMIP) OverTransmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol TCP/IP (CMOT). Thecommunication data may be transmitted via at least one communicationchannel of the plurality of communication channels. The communicationchannels may include, but are not limited to, a wireless channel, awired channel, and a combination of wireless and wired channel thereof.The wireless or wired channel may be associated with a data standardwhich may be defined by one of a Satellite Network, Local Area Network(LAN), a Personal Area Network (PAN), a Wireless Local Area Network(WLAN), a Wireless Sensor Network (WSN), Wireless Area Network (WAN) andWireless Wide Area Network (VVWAN). Additionally, the wired channel maybe selected on the basis of bandwidth criteria. For example, an opticalfiber channel may be used for a high bandwidth communication, and acoaxial cable (or Ethernet-based communication channel) may be used formoderate bandwidth communication. In one scenario, the communicationnetwork 126 may be the satellite-based network. For these networks, abroadcast standard may be used, for example, National Television SystemCommittee (NTSC), Phase Alternating Line (PAL), (Sequential Color andMemory) SECAM, Moving Picture Experts Group (MPEG), and (Digital VideoBroadcasting) DVB-S/DVB-S2 or Integrated Services Digital Broadcasting(ISDB-S).

In operation, the user 118 may raise a request to access the clientapplication engine 116A, operational on the user device 116, via acontrol mechanism of the user device 116. The request may furthercomprise a request to access the media content from the distributionnetwork 104. The request may be transmitted to the event triggermanagement system 102 of the distribution network 104, via thecommunication network 126. In certain embodiments, authentication of therequest may be based on one of subscription-based access, secure access,freemium-based access, and billed access to the media content on theclient application engine 116A.

The request may further be an access request for one of a broadcastchannel (on a regular TV or a smart TV), an internet-based mediadistribution channel, an IPTV network, and the like. User authenticationdata of the user 118 may be transmitted to the event trigger managementsystem 102 and the CDN 106, via the communication network 126. The user118 may be authenticated by the CDN 106 or the event trigger managementsystem 102 based on validation of the user authentication data and thereceived request to access the media content of the distribution network104.

The request to access the media content may be further associated with arequest time, which may define an access time to stream the mediacontent as per the type of the media content, such as VOD media contentand linear media content. The type of the media content may be assessedby the event trigger management system 102 to identify a strategy tomanage and render services, such as OTT services over the media content.In certain embodiments, the type of media content may be a linear mediacontent. The linear media content may be further classified into linearscheduled media content and live media content. In other embodiments,the type of media stream may be non-linear media content, for example,VOD media content, streamed through an IP-based or a satellite-basednetwork.

In certain embodiments, the media content may be a combination ofprogramming media content and non-programming media content, which maybe provided to the user 118 via a distribution service. The distributionservice may be at least one of a unicast, multicast, broadcast, orsimulcast service. In accordance with an embodiment, an encoder at theCDN 106 may encode the media content using an adaptive bitrate streaming(ABR) technique based on an availability of a network-bandwidth for theuser device 116. Examples of the ABR technique may include, but are notlimited to, HTTP Dynamic Streaming (HDS), Dynamic Adaptive Streamingover HTTP (DASH), Smooth, Progressive, and HTTP Live Streaming (HLS)streaming techniques. The CDN 106 may transmit the requested mediacontent inserted with the media items to the user device 116, via thecommunication network 126. After a reception of the requested mediacontent, the client application engine 116A at the user device 116 maybe configured to decode and display the programming media content andnon-programming media content (media items) on the display deviceassociated with the user device 116.

As the distribution network 104 owns and manages the CDN 106, the eventtrigger management system 102 may advantageously identify a set ofprograms from a schedule of the programming media content and mediaitems, which may be scheduled to be streamed as the media content of thedistribution network 104. Therefore, the schedule of the programmingmedia content and associated one or more attributes of the media itemsmay be retrieved from the schedule database 114A of the scheduler system114. Such schedule may specify a playback start time and a playback endtime of each media item that is further assigned an item identifier (forexample, Ad ID) in the schedule.

The event trigger management system 102 may be further configured todetermine the media items that may be present in the media content ofthe distribution network 104. The determination of the media items maycorrespond to a determination of the one or more attributes of the mediaitems, for example, title, playback duration, format, codec, resolution,size, item identifier (for example, AD ID) and the like. In certainembodiments, the media items may be determined at the distributionnetwork 104, prior to packaging of the media items at a defined set ofslots within the scheduled set of programs of the media content. In suchimplementation, the schedule database 114A may comprise a schedulerecord for each slot or a specific media item, where each slot mayspecify duration of playback of the specified media item with theplayback of the media content, at the user device 116. Each slot for theplayback of a media item in the media content may be defined based on atag or a message inserted with the media content at the specific slot.The tags may be inserted as per a broadcast standard, such as Society ofCable Telecom Engineers (SCTE)-224 standard or SCTE-35 messages. Detailsor metadata for each tag may be present in a client manifest transmittedwith the media content to the user device 116.

In other embodiments, the media items may be determined when the mediacontent may be decoded at the user device 116. The media items may bedetermined after packaging the media items at the defined set of slotsin the scheduled set of programs of the media content. The scheduledatabase 114A that may comprise metadata of each inserted media item andassociated schedule may be generated and stored for the packaged mediacontent. In some implementations, the event trigger management system102 may insert, and detect SCTE-35 media start and SCTE-35 media endmessages at the playback time of the media content, to determine aplayback time of each of the media items at the user device 116.

The event trigger management system 102 may further generate one or moreinteractive items for the determined media items in the media content.In some implementations, the event trigger management system 102 mayfurther generate a plurality of interactive items for the determinedmedia items in the media content. Hereinafter, “the plurality ofinteractive items” may be interchangeably referred to as “interactiveitems.” The generated interactive items may comprise trigger componentsthat may facilitate an interaction of the user 118 with such generatedinteractive items.

The event trigger management system 102 may be further configured totransmit the generated interactive items to the user device 116,operational with the client application engine 116A, via thecommunication network 126. The event trigger management system 102 maybe configured to overlay the interactive items over the determined mediaitems within the media content of the distribution network 104, throughthe client application engine 116A on the user device 116. Alternativelystated, the media player or the client application engine 116A at theuser device 116 may be instructed, via control signals, by the eventtrigger management system 102, to overlay the interactive items over thedetermined media items. In certain embodiments, such interactive itemsmay be overlaid at the playback time of the media items within the mediacontent, at the user device 116. In other embodiments, such interactiveitems may be overlaid prior to playback time of the media items with themedia content at the user device 116.

One or more event triggers may be received by the event triggermanagement system 102 from the client application engine 116A, for theselection of the interactive items overlaid over the media items withinthe media content, at the user device 116. In certain implementations,the event trigger management system 102 may receive a plurality of eventtriggers from the client application engine 116A, for selection of theinteractive items overlaid over the media items within the mediacontent, at the user device 116. Hereinafter, “the plurality of eventtriggers” may be interchangeably referred to as “event triggers.” Eachevent trigger may provide a measure of intent of the user 118 to engagewith a product offering or a service offering promoted through the mediaitems of the media content.

A personalized list may be further generated based on the received eventtriggers for the interactive items, overlaid over the media items of themedia content. The personalized list may be generated by the eventtrigger management system 102, in conjunction inputs from the clientapplication engine 116A at the user device 116. The generatedpersonalized list may comprise one or more list items such that eachlist item may specify a product offering or a service offering for aspecific media item presented with the media content, at the user device116. Alternatively stated, the personalized list may comprise an orderedor unordered list of product offerings or service offerings for theuser-triggered interactive items.

The event trigger management system 102 may be further configured todisplay the generated personalized list with the media content, at auser interface of the user device 116. The personalized list may bedisplayed based on an overlay of the generated personalized list overthe media content, presented at the user interface of the user device116. The generated personalized list over the media content may bedisplayed for defined time duration, for example, “15 seconds” ofdisplay time duration for a personalized list (P₁) that comprises listitems “X1_product”, “X2_service”, and “X3_offer.” Additionally, theevent trigger management system 102 may push the generated personalizedon one or more delivery platforms available on the one or more deliverydevices 120 associated with the user 118.

The event trigger management system 102 may be further configured todeliver the services on the one or more delivery platforms that may beaccessible to the user 118 or at the user device 116 associated with theuser 118. The delivery of the services may be based on a selection ofone or more user-selectable options in the personalized list, which maybe displayed with the media content, at the user device 116 or at theone or more delivery platforms accessible on the one or more deliverydevices 120.

The client application engine 116A via instructions of the event triggermanagement system 102 may activate the one or more user-selectableoptions for the one or more list items of the personalized list. Theactivation of the one or more user-selectable options may be executed inaccordance with one of user preferences of the user 118, past footprints(or activities over web/client-applications) of the user 118, applicableoptions for a specific list item, demographic factors, inventory/stockavailability, and other factors.

The user-selectable option may selected by the user 118 as a request tothe event trigger management system 102 to deliver the services to theuser 118. The selection of each user-selectable option may becommunicated to the event trigger management system 102 as auser-defined request to manage delivery of a selected service. Theservices may include, but are not limited to, options to share listitems on a social platform, purchase list items, pool funds for listitems, reverse bid for list items and modify list items in thepersonalized list. The selections may be provided through an(Input/Output) I/O circuitry, such as a touch-based circuitry, avoice-based circuitry, a sound-based circuitry, a gesture-basedcircuitry, and a haptic-based circuitry of the user device 116 or theone or more delivery devices 120.

For a selection of a user-selectable option to share the one or morelist items to a group of users on a social platform, the social mediaserver 124 may facilitate the client application engine 116A of the userdevice 116, to share the selected one or more list items to the group ofusers on the social platform. Some operations of the social media server124 may be executed at the client application engine 116A, in accordancewith certain API-level integration of the user device 116 and/or theclient application engine 116A with the social media server 124. In onecase, the group of users may be associated with the user 118 thatselects the user-selectable option to share the one or more list itemsto the group of users on the social platform. In another case, the groupof users may be listed in a public list (i.e. with public access) thatmay be published by the user 118 on the social platform.

A notification for the selection of the user-selectable option andsuccessful sharing of the selected one or more list items may bedelivered to the user device 116 or the one or more delivery devices 120associated with the user 118. Similarly, for a selection of anotheruser-selectable option to reverse bid for one of the list items, thereverse bidding server 122 may facilitate the client application engine116A of the user device 116, to provide a reverse bid for the selectedone or more list items. Every time a reverse bid may be provided, thereverse bidding server 122 may facilitate a seller of the list item, toaccept, negotiate, or reject the reverse bid.

The event trigger management system 102 may update the personalized listwith each selection of an interactive item or a user-selectable option.An updated personalized list may be communicated to the clientapplication engine 116A or the one or more delivery platforms, for adisplay of the updated personalized list with the media content. Forexample, the updated personalized list may be communicated in a pushnotification to the client application engine 116A. The detailedoperation of the event trigger management system 102 may be described,for example, in FIG. 2 .

It may be noted that the event trigger management system 102, the CDN106, and the client application engine 116A may adhere to rules,policies, control logic, or circuitry of the entire distribution network104 that may be managed and owned by the first service provider, withouta deviation from the scope of disclosure.

FIG. 1B is a block diagram that illustrates an exemplary networkenvironment for delivery of OTT services through third-service-providerclient application engines that stream media content fromthird-service-provider content providers, in accordance with anotherexemplary embodiment of the disclosure. FIG. 1B shows an alternateconfiguration of the network environment 100. The network environment100 comprises the event trigger management system 102, a firstdistribution network 104A, a second distribution network 104B, the userdevice 116, the one or more delivery devices 120, the reverse biddingserver 122, and the social media server 124, communicatively coupled toeach other, via the communication network 126.

In such network configuration, the first-service-provider-managed eventtrigger management system 102 may act as OTT servicefacilitator/provider for the second-service-provider-managed firstdistribution network 104A and the third-service-provider-managed seconddistribution network 104B. Alternatively stated, the first distributionnetwork 104A may stream the programming media content to the user device116 and the second distribution network 104B may provide the media items(programming or non-programming) to the first distribution network 104Aor the event trigger management system 102, for presentation of themedia items with the media content, at the user device 116. Thefirst-service-provider-managed event trigger management system 102 maycontrol/facilitate delivery of services, for example, wishlistgeneration over-the-top of the second-service-provider-managed mediacontent, overlay of the interactive items, purchasing product or serviceofferings from the generated wishlist, provide reverse bids on thewishlist items, share list items on social platforms or receivenotifications on selected product or service offerings.

The first distribution network 104A may be a programming media networkthat may be owned and managed by a second service provider and thesecond distribution network 104B may be a non-programming media network(for example, a large advertisement distribution network (programmaticor non-programmatic advertisements) that may be owned and managed by athird service provider.

The first distribution network 104A may include a CDN 106A, the livemedia server 110, the VOD media server 112, the scheduler system 114,and a client application server 128 for the client application engine116A. Operations of the second-service-provider-managed firstdistribution network 104A may be same as the operations of thefirst-service-provider-managed distribution network 104, as described inFIG. 1A.

The second distribution network 104B may include a CDN 106B and themedia items server 108. The second distribution network 1046 may beconfigured to provide the media items to the first distribution network104A or the event trigger management system 102 for playback, along withthe media content at the user device 116. Operations of thethird-service-provider-managed second distribution network 104B may besame as the operations of the first-service-provider-manageddistribution network 104, as described in FIG. 1A. In some embodiments,instead of the first distribution network 104A and the seconddistribution network, an integrated distribution network may be presentas a common distributor of the programming media content andnon-programming media content (for example, ad videos, bugs, overlaygraphics) and a service consumer to a service provider associated withthe event trigger management system 102.

The operations of the CDN 106A, the live media server 110, the VOD mediaserver 112, and the scheduler system 114 of the first distributionnetwork 104A may be same as the operations of the CDN 106, the livemedia server 110, the VOD media server 112, and the scheduler system 114of the distribution network 104, as described in FIG. 1A. Similarly, theoperations of the CDN 106B of the second distribution network 104B maybe same as the operations of the CDN 106 of the distribution network104, as described in FIG. 1A.

As the client application engine 116A may be owned and managed by thesecond service provider, therefore, the second-service-provider-managedfirst distribution network 104A may utilize the client applicationserver 128 to facilitate integration with thefirst-service-provider-managed event trigger management system 102. Theintegrations may provide permissions and control provisions to the eventtrigger management system 102, to further facilitate delivery ofinteractive overlay items and associated services through thesecond-service-provider-managed client application engine 116A. It maybe noted that the decisioning related to the interactive items to beoverlaid, the media items to be placed between the media content, andthe like, may be taken at the first distribution network 104A or thesecond distribution network 1046. The event trigger management system102 may only act as a provider of different services on different clientapplications, without a deviation from the scope of the disclosure.

The client application server 128 may comprise suitable logic,circuitry, and interfaces that may be configured to manage the clientapplication engine 116A, which may pertain to a management of userrequests and permissions, resource allocation and data synchronization,request authentication, media or data processing, and other computationson collected data of the user 118. Alternatively stated, the clientapplication server 128 may provide a framework to manage resources,requirements, and assigned tasks of the client application engine 116A.The framework of the client application server 128 may correspond to aprogrammable environment that manages processes, as well as assignstasks, specifications, and resources that may be required by the clientapplication engine 116A. Additionally, the client application server 128may facilitate integration of the second-service-provider-managed clientapplication engine 116A with the first-service-provider-managed eventtrigger management system 102. The integration may facilitate acontrolled access to the media content and associated interactivities onthe client application engine 116A, operational at the user device 116.An application database may be further maintained at the clientapplication server 128 to store the resources, requests, and associatedmetadata for the client application engine 116A.

In operation, as described in the operation of FIG. 1A, the request fromuser device 116 may be further utilized by the client application server128, to request access to the media content from the first distributionnetwork 104A or the second distribution network 104B. The media contentmay comprise programming media content (set of programs) from the firstdistribution network 104A and non-programming media content (mediaitems) from the second distribution network 104B.

The requested programming media content may be encoded and packaged fordelivery to the user device 116 based on user preferences or a scheduleof broadcast for linear media content or live media content. The CDN106B of the second distribution network 104B may transmit the mediaitems to the CDN 106A of the first distribution network 104A. Therequested programming media content may be further packaged withnon-programming media content (media items) from the second distributionnetwork 104B. The first distribution network 104A or the seconddistribution network 104B may implement decision circuitries/engines todetermine a set of slots for playback of the media items within theprogramming media content.

As a service requester, the second-service-provider-managed firstdistribution network 104A or the third-service-provider-managed seconddistribution network 104B may request the first-service-provider-managedevent trigger management system 102, to render services to the user 118.The request may be made while the media content from the firstdistribution network 104A and the second distribution network 1046 maybe played at the user interface of the user device 116. The services maybe rendered at the client application engine 116A or the one or moredelivery platforms accessible at the one or more delivery devices 120associated with the user 118.

The first-service-provider-managed event trigger management system 102may request access and control of the client application engine 116A,operational at the user device 116, in response to the request from thesecond-service-provider-managed first distribution network 104A or thethird-service-provider-managed second distribution network 104B. Inaccordance with an embodiment, the second service provider that managesthe first distribution network 104A may further manage the clientapplication engine 116A (as shown in FIG. 1A). In such a case, therequest to grant access and control over the client application engine116A may be routed to the first distribution network 104A. In accordancewith an embodiment, the third service provider that manages the seconddistribution network 1046 may manage the client application engine 116A.In such a case, the request to grant access and control over the clientapplication engine 116A may be routed to the second distribution network104B. In accordance with an embodiment, networks different from thefirst distribution network 104A and the second distribution network 104Bmay manage the operations of the client application engine 116A. Forsuch a case, the request to grant access and control over the clientapplication engine 116A may be routed to the networks.

The event trigger management system 102 may be further configured todetermine the media items that may be present in the media content ofthe first distribution network 104A or the second distribution network104B. The determination of the media items may correspond to adetermination of the schedule (for example, playback duration, starttime, and end time) and one or more attributes of the media items, forexample, title, format, codec, resolution, size, item identifier and thelike. The schedule and the one or more attributes of the media items maybe determined via different techniques, under different content deliverystrategies selected by the first distribution network 104A and thesecond distribution network 104B (as discussed in detail in FIG. 2 ).

The event trigger management system 102 may further generate theinteractive items for the determined media items in the media content ofthe first distribution network 104A or the second distribution network104B. The generated interactive items may comprise trigger componentsthat may be activated at the user device 116, to facilitate the user 118to interact with the generated interactive items. The generatedinteractive items may be served to the first distribution network 104A,the second distribution network 1046 or directly to the clientapplication engine 116A, for an overlay over the media items, inaccordance with a content delivery scenario selected by the firstdistribution network 104A or the second distribution network 104B. Thecontent delivery scenario from different content delivery scenarios maybe selected such that the media content, the interactive items, and theOTT services may be rendered advantageously with efficient utilizationof a network bandwidth, minimal device-performance degradation, andoptimal computational resource utilization for the first distributionnetwork 104A or the second distribution network 104B.

In a first content delivery scenario, the event trigger managementsystem 102 may overlay the generated interactive items over the mediaitems in the media content, which may be played at the user device 116.The interactive items may be overlaid with support from thenetwork-provided or content recognition-based schedule and attributes ofthe media items. In a second content delivery scenario, the firstdistribution network 104A or the second distribution network 1046 mayprovide a defined list of media items, which may not comprise theschedule of the media items. Therefore, the event trigger managementsystem 102 may provide detectable identifiers, for example, SCTE-35messages, ID3 tags, or beacons (infrasonic/ultrasonic/audible), for eachmedia item, to the first distribution network 104A or the seconddistribution network 104B. Each of the detectable item identifiers maybe inserted, by the first distribution network 104A or the seconddistribution network 1046, at a slot that specifies the playback time ofthe media items in the media content. The item identifier may correspondto an audio-based, an image-based beacon, or a data-based beacon thatmay be inserted or encoded with the media items to be packaged with themedia content. Such item identifier may be derived from the media items.

In a third content delivery scenario, the event trigger managementsystem 102 may insert the interactive items in the received mediacontent of the first distribution network 104A or the seconddistribution network 104B, based on the schedule provided by the firstdistribution network 104A or the second distribution network 104B.Further operations of the event trigger management system 102 is same asdescribed in FIG. 1A, and different operational configurations andassociated details may be covered in FIG. 2 .

FIG. 2 is a block diagram that collectively illustrates an exemplaryevent trigger management system for delivery of OTT services throughclient application engines managed by one of a first service provider, asecond service provider or a third service provider, in accordance withvarious exemplary embodiments of the disclosure. In accordance with anembodiment, FIG. 2 shows the event trigger management system 102 thatcomprises a network interface 202, a determination engine 206, anoverlay engine 208, a detection engine 210, a list server 212, and auser manager 214. In accordance with another embodiment, the eventtrigger management system 102 may further comprise an integration engine204 and a content recognition (CR) engine 216, communicatively coupledto the network interface 202, the determination engine 206, the overlayengine 208, the detection engine 210, the list server 212, and the usermanager 214. The event trigger management system 102 may becommunicatively coupled to the user device 116 and either of thedistribution network 104 or the first distribution network 104A and thesecond distribution network 104B, under different operationalconfigurations.

The network interface 202 may comprise suitable logic, circuitry, andinterfaces that may be configured to communicate with various computingdevices, via the communication network 126. The network interface 202may be implemented by use of known technologies to support wired orwireless communication among the event trigger management system 102 andthe various computing devices. Components of the network interface 202may include, but are not limited to, an antenna, a radio frequency (RF)transceiver, one or more amplifiers, a tuner, one or more oscillators, adigital signal processor, a coder-decoder (CODEC) chipset, a subscriberidentity module (SIM) card, and/or a local buffer.

The integration engine 204 may be operational at the event triggermanagement system 102 only when the first-service-provider-managed eventtrigger management system 102 may function as a service provider todistribution networks that may be different from the distributionnetwork 104, such as the first distribution network 104A and the seconddistribution network 104B. In such operational configuration, theintegration engine 204 may comprise suitable logic, circuitry, andinterfaces that may be configured to provide the event triggermanagement system 102 with a controlled access to the client applicationengine 116A or the client application server 128 associated with theclient application engine 116A. The integration engine 204 may sharerights and permissions and bridge API-level access and control of theclient application engine 116A, with the event trigger management system102. The API-level access may be bridged based on API-keys orauthentication information shared among the client application server128, the integration engine 204, the event trigger management system 102or the client application engine 116A. In certain embodiments, theintegration engine 204 may be implemented as a specialized circuitry oran application on the event trigger management system 102.

The determination engine 206 may comprise suitable logic, circuitry, andinterfaces that may be configured to determine media items within themedia content that may be scheduled for playback at the client device.The determination of the media items may be based on a determination ofa schedule, such as playback start time, playback end time and playbackduration and one or more attributes, such as a title, an item identifierand a codec of the playback of the media items within the media content.The determination may facilitate the identification of promotionalopportunities, which may be utilized to selectively target the user 118with interactive items and obtain event triggers over the selection ofthe interactive items. In certain embodiments, the determination engine206 may be implemented as a specialized circuitry or an application atthe event trigger management system 102. For such implementations, thedetermination engine 206 may utilize computational resources of agraphical processing unit (GPU) or the CR engine 216 of event triggermanagement system 102.

The overlay engine 208 may comprise suitable logic, circuitry, andinterfaces that may be configured to manage operations associated withan overlay of the interactive items over the determined media items inthe media content, at the user device 116. Each interactive item to beoverlaid over a specific media item may be a graphically responsive itemthat may be associated with one or more options, such as discounts,promo codes, purchase options, and list generation options, for ageneration of the event triggers. In certain embodiments, the overlayengine 208 may be implemented as a specialized graphics circuitry or agraphic-rendering application at the event trigger management system102. For such implementation, the overlay engine 208 may utilizecomputational resources of the GPU or the CR engine 216 of the eventtrigger management system 102.

The detection engine 210 may comprise suitable logic, circuitry, andinterfaces that may be configured to receive the event triggers from theclient application engine 116A operational at the user device 116. Theevent triggers may be received in response to the selections of theinteractive items presented over the media items of the media content,at the client application engine 116A on the user device 116. Theselection of the media items may be facilitated based on at least one ofa touch input, a gesture input, a haptic feedback input, a voice input,or a specialized circuitry for a real-time wireless selection of themedia items. The event triggers may be detected based on a reception ofmessages or other metadata, such as SCTE-35 messages, at the detectionengine 210, for each event trigger generated at the client applicationengine 116A. In certain embodiments, the detection engine 210 may beimplemented as a specialized circuitry or an application at the eventtrigger management system 102. For such implementations, the detectionengine 210 may utilize computational resources of data processing unitof the event trigger management system 102.

The list server 212 may comprise suitable logic, circuitry, andinterfaces that may be configured to commit records for the selection ofthe interactive items and facilitate the generation of a personalizedlist for the user 118 based on the selections of the interactive items,rendered at the client application engine 116A of the user device 116.The list server 212 may comprise a generation engine 212A and a listdatabase 212B communicatively coupled to the generation engine 212A.

The generation engine 212A may comprise suitable logic, circuitry, andinterfaces that may be configured to generate a personalized list forthe received event triggers, based on the selection of the interactiveitems overlaid over the media items of the media content. The generationengine 212A may further facilitate an overlay of the generatedpersonalized list over the media content that may be presented at theuser interface of the user device 116.

The list database 212B may comprise suitable logic, circuitry, andinterfaces that may be configured to store, commit, and update recordsthat correspond to selection of the interactive items and the one ormore user-selectable options. The list database 212B may be furtherconfigured to store the generated personalized list and periodicallyupdate the one or more list items in the generated personalized listbased on selection of the one or more user-selectable options, asdisplayed with the generated personalized list.

The user manager 214 may comprise suitable logic, circuitry, andinterfaces that may be configured to manage processes and requests thatmay be associated with preferences, activities (or footprints),selections, or profile of the user 118. The preferences, activities,selections, or profile may be stored and managed as user-related data ina user database 214A. In accordance with an embodiment, the preferences,activities (or footprints), selections, or profile of the user 118 maybe received from other user data sources when the event triggermanagement system 102 operates as a service provider to distributionnetworks, such as the first distribution network 104A or the seconddistribution network 1046. Every time the user 118 requests, through theclient application engine 116A, to access the media content, the requestmay be communicated, via the network interface 202, to the user manager214. The user manager 214 may be configured to authenticate the user 118for the received request through the network interface 202. In certainimplementations, the user manager 214 may be configured to facilitatetransactions or payments, in conjunction with a transaction system, forthe selected one or more list items in the personalized list.

The user database 214A may comprise suitable logic, circuitry, andinterfaces that may be configured to store and manage the user-relateddata in real time. The user-related data may comprise at least a set ofuser-authentication data, subscription data, preferences of the user118, and selections of the interactive items. A footprint of the user118 that may define the activities of the user 118 may be furtherupdated to the user database 214A in real time.

The CR engine 216 may comprise suitable logic, circuitry, and interfacesthat may be configured to execute operations associated with contentrecognition of the media items within the media content, based oninstructions/control signals received from the determination engine 206.The CR engine 216 may operate as a statistical signal processing enginethat may execute operations for the recognition of the media items inthe media content. The CR engine 216 may further identify the one ormore attributes of the media items through an implementation of atechnique, such as acoustic fingerprinting, digital watermarking, anddigital video fingerprinting. In certain implementations, supervised orunsupervised machine learning, deep learning, neural network, orartificially intelligence based techniques may be implemented tofacilitate precise determination of the one or more attributes of themedia items in the media content. In certain embodiments, the CR engine216 may be implemented as a specialized circuitry or an application atthe event trigger management system 102. For such implementations, theCR engine 216 may utilize computational resources of the GPU at theevent trigger management system 102.

In operation, a request to stream the media content may be provided fromthe client application engine 116A, operational at the user device 116associated with the user 118. In a first operational configuration, therequest may be received at the CDN 106 of the distribution network 104(as shown in FIG. 1A). In such implementation, event-triggered servicesmay be rendered over-the-top of the media content without integrationwith the client application engine 116A. In a second operationalconfiguration, the request may be received at the CDN 106A of the firstdistribution network 104A or at the CDN 106B of the second distributionnetwork 104B. In such implementation, the interactive items and theassociated services may be provided over-the-top of the media contentwith prior integration with the client application engine 116A.

In accordance with the first operational configuration, the request maybe received at the network interface 202 of the event trigger managementsystem 102, from the CDN 106 of the distribution network 104. At theevent trigger management system 102, the user manager 214 may validatethe request and provide a request validation status to each of the CDN106, the scheduler system 114, the integration engine 204, thedetermination engine 206, the overlay engine 208, the detection engine210, and the list server 212. The validation status may be transmittedto the client application engine 116A, to prepare the user interface andother resources for playback of the media content.

The client application engine 116A may comprise a media playback enginethat executes operations associated with the playback of the mediacontent, at the user interface of the user device 116. A time of therequest from the user device 116 may be recorded at the CDN 106 and therequest may be assessed to identify whether the user 118 wants to watchVOD media content, live media content, scheduled linear media content,or a combination thereof. The CDN 106 may transmit the requested mediacontent to the client application engine 116A as per specifications ofthe received request from the user device 116.

The media content may be associated with a set of promotionalopportunities, such that each promotional opportunity of the set ofpromotional opportunities may specify a time slot in the media content.Each promotional opportunity may be further utilized to present aninteractive item over a media item, for a defined duration within theplayback duration of the media content. Each of the time slots may bedefined between segments of the media content or a specific on-screenregion of the media content, for the defined duration, for example,picture-in-picture (PIP) time slot for duration of “10 seconds.”

The event trigger management system 102 may be configured to allocateone or more time slots within the media content. The one or more timeslots may be allocated based on a static or a dynamic allocation. For astatic allocation, the one or more slots may be pre-specified for theone or more programs in the media content. Schedule data and the one ormore attributes of the media content may be updated in the scheduledatabase 114A of the scheduler system 114 prior to a reception of therequest from the user 118. Therefore, the determination engine 206 mayretrieve the schedule and the one or more attributes of the media itemsthat may be scheduled for a playback with the media content.

For a dynamic allocation, the one or more time slots may be dynamicallyallocated at the request time within the media content. At the sametime, the media items may be allocated and thereafter inserted at thedynamically allocated one or more slots in the media content of thedistribution network 104. The one or more attributes of the media items,inserted at the dynamically allocated one or more slots, may be updatedas a defined list in the schedule database 114A of the scheduler system114. The determination engine 206 may determine the one or moreattributes of the media items for either of the static allocation or thedynamic allocation of the one or more time slots within the mediacontent of the distribution network 104.

For example, a static allocation of the one or more time slots may beexecuted for a scheduled linear media stream, such as a broadcasttelevision content stream and a dynamic allocation of the one or moreslots may be performed for a VOD media stream based on the request fromthe user 118. A VOD2Live system (not shown) may be used to dynamicallyallocate the media items for the dynamically allocated one or more timeslots within the media content of the distribution network 104.

In certain embodiments, the event trigger management system 102 may beconfigured to allocate the media items at the one or more time slotswithin the media content, based on a stored schedule of the one or moreprograms in the scheduler system 114 of the distribution network 104.Alternatively stated, the event trigger management system 102 may decidewhat type of media items (or AD media) should be presented at which timeslot in the media content. The event trigger management system 102 mayalso decide the type of interactivity (or interactive overlays) to bepresented at a specific time slot and what should be the response fromthe event trigger management system 102 for the interactions receivedfrom the user device 116. In other embodiments, the CDN 106 may make thedecisions and operate as an ESAM server for the distribution network104. The allocated media items may be packaged with the programmingmedia content at the allocated one or more time slots. The media itemsmay be allocated and further selected in accordance with at least one ofuser preferences, user footprints, demographics, goals, such as a(click-through rate) CTR, (cost per thousand) CPM, impressions, sales,(cost per revenue) CPR, pay-per-click (PPC), or other rules.

At the event trigger management system 102, the determination engine 206may be configured to determine the media items in the media content ofthe distribution network 104. The determination of the media items maycorrespond to a determination of the schedule, such as the playbackstart time, the playback end time, and the playback duration, and theone or more attributes, such as an item identifier, a media format, afile size, a resolution and a codec, of the media items. The itemidentifier may be one of a standard advertisement identifier, such as AdID that may be defined by a 12 digit (Industry Standard CodingIdentification) ISCI code, an ID3 metadata that may be associated witheach of the media items, or a web-based, an image-based, an audio-based,or a data-based beacon that may be inserted or encoded with the mediaitems to be packaged with the media content. Such item identifier may bederived from the media items. The item identifier may facilitate aunique identification of each product or service offering promoted withthe media items of the media content.

Similarly, the playback duration of the media item may provide atime-frame to overlay the interactive items over the media items, whichmay be streamed at the client application engine 116A. The media formatmay facilitate the determination of whether the media item is a videoitem, an audio item or an image item. The behavior or specification ofthe interactive items may be configured in accordance with the mediaitem format. Additionally, the file size, the resolution or the codec ofthe media items may vary in accordance with availability of a networkbandwidth of the communication network 126. The variation in the filesize, resolution or codec may affect behavior, the playback start time,the playback end time or the playback duration of the media items; andtherefore, the determination of the file size, the resolution, or thecodec used for the media items may facilitate seamless and synchronousoverlay of the interactive items, at the user device 116.

As a first example, a media item (A) may exhibit the one or moreattributes such as a title “X1” for a product offering of “Furniture X”,a playback start time of “00:35:55”, a playback end time of “00:36:20”,a playback duration of “00:00:25”, a media format of “MPEG”, an itemidentifier of “ABCD0001000”, and a type of media overlay as “PIP.”

As a second example, a media item (B) may exhibit the one or moreattributes such as a title “X2” for a product offering of “Car Y”, aplayback start time of “00:43:15”, a playback end time of “00:44:52”, aplayback duration of “00:01:27”, a media format of “JPEG”, an itemidentifier of “ABCD0002000”, and a type of media overlay as “Banner.”

In certain embodiments, the determination engine 206 may be configuredto retrieve the one or more attributes of the media items from theschedule database 114A of the scheduler system 114, without priorintegration with the scheduler system 114. Alternatively stated, the oneor more attributes of the media items may be determined from a definedlist of media items that may be time-scheduled to be inserted within themedia content of the distribution network 104. The schedule database114A may comprise structured or unstructured records for the one or moreattributes of each media item in the defined list of media items.

In other embodiments, the determination engine 206 may be configured toexecute content recognition of the media content, to identify the one ormore attributes of the media items within the media content. The contentrecognition of the media content may be executed based on animplementation of content recognition techniques that utilize thecomputational resources of the CR engine 216. A set of digital videofingerprints or a set of digital audio fingerprints from the mediacontent may be obtained by the determination engine 206. The obtainedset of digital video fingerprints or the set of digital audiofingerprints may be analyzed to identify the one or more attributes ofthe media items in the media content. The techniques used for thecontent recognition of the media content may be known to one skilled inthe art, and therefore, such techniques have not been described indetail for the sake of brevity. The records or the defined list ofCR-determined media items may be updated in the schedule database 114Aof the scheduler system 114.

The determination of the playback start time and the playback end timeof the media items within the media content may be relevant for asynchronized delivery of the OTT services over the media content of thedistribution network 104. In case of the live media content, the timeslot, sequence, the playback start time and the playback end time andthe playback duration of each media item may vary with a variation inthe availability of the one or more promotional opportunities at theplayback time of the live media content. Therefore, attributes of themedia items may be determined based on detection of an item identifierthat may be packaged with each media item, such as the detection ofbeacons or SCTE-35 messages, to identify the playback start time and theplayback end time of each media item in the live media content.

An item identifier, such as an ID3 tag or an SCTE-35 message, may beinserted with each of the media items, which may be further packagedwith the media content. In accordance with an embodiment, the live mediaserver 110 or the media items server 108 may be configured to insert theitem identifier with each of the media items prior to a packaging of themedia items with the media content at the distribution network 104. Atthe playback time of a media item, the item identifier for the mediaitem may be detected by the client application engine 116A, inconjunction with the determination engine 206. Additionally, theplayback start time, the playback end time, and the playback durationmay be determined along with the detection of the item identifier. Foreach detection, one or more records may be generated that may furthercomprise the detected item identifier, the playback start time, theplayback end time, and the playback duration of each media item in thelive media content. The records may be further updated in the scheduledatabase 114A of the scheduler system 114.

In accordance with the second operational configuration, a strategy todetermine the one or more attributes of the media items and associatedschedule for the playback within the media content may vary withdifferent content delivery scenarios. In a first scenario, thedetermination engine 206 may receive the schedule and the one or moreattributes of the media items from the first distribution network 104Aor the second distribution network 104B. The schedule and the one ormore attributes may be fetched from the schedule database 114A of thescheduler system 114 at the first distribution network 104A 114 or atthe second distribution network 104B. The schedule may comprise a listof programs to be played at the request time for the media content, aplayback start time, a playback end time and playback duration of eachmedia item within the requested media content.

In a second scenario, the first distribution network 104A or the seconddistribution network 104B may request the event trigger managementsystem 102, to trigger interactivities and recognize media items at theuser device 116. In such cases, the determination engine 206 may controla CR engine at the user device 116, via API-based integrations, todetermine the one or more attributes and the schedule of each media itemin the media content of the first distribution network 104A or thesecond distribution network 104B. A set of digital video fingerprints ora set of digital audio fingerprints from the media content may beobtained at the user device 116. The obtained set of digital videofingerprints or the set of digital audio fingerprints may be analyzed toidentify the one or more attributes of the media items in the mediacontent. The techniques used for the content recognition of the mediacontent may be known to one skilled in the art and therefore, suchtechniques have not been described in detail for the sake of brevity.

In a third scenario, the determination engine 206 may receive a definedlist of media items, via the communication network 126, from the firstdistribution network 104A or the second distribution network 104B. Thedefined list of media items may comprise at least an item identifier,such as Ad ID, for each media item. As the determination engine 206 maynot have direct access to the media content of the first distributionnetwork 104A or the second distribution network 1046, the determinationengine 206 may provide one or more executable identifiers, such as anID3 tag or an SCTE-35 message and the interactive items for the mediaitems, specified in the received list of media items, to the firstdistribution network 104A or the second distribution network 104B. Inaccordance with an embodiment, the determination engine 206 may controlthe insertion of the one or more executable identifiers with the mediacontent at the first distribution network 104A or the seconddistribution network 104B. The insertions may be controlled based onaccess and control of the first distribution network 104A, the seconddistribution network 1046 or the client application engine 116A. Inaccordance with an embodiment, the CDN 106A at the first distributionnetwork 104A and the CDN 106B at the second distribution network 1046may insert the received one or more executable identifiers at one ormore time slots for the media items within the media content.

A network address, such as Internet Protocol (IP) address, of the eventtrigger management system 102 may be transmitted along with the one ormore executable identifiers, to the first distribution network 104A andthe second distribution network 1046. The network address may beutilized by the first distribution network 104A or the seconddistribution network 1046, to route requests to generate personalizedlists or render other services to the user 118. At the playback time ofthe media items, each executable identifier may be detected by theclient application engine 116A and a request to overlay an interactiveitem for the media item may be transmitted to the event triggermanagement system 102, through the network-address that links the eventtrigger management system 102 to the communication network 126. Theplayback start time, the playback end time and the playback duration maybe detected along with the detection of the one or more executableidentifiers. At least one record may be generated for each detectionwhich may comprise the detected executable identifier, the playbackstart time, the playback end time, and the playback duration of eachmedia item within the media content.

In a fourth scenario, the determination engine 206 may receive the mediacontent from the first distribution network 104A or the seconddistribution network 1046. In such case, the CR engine 216 may recognizethe media items within the received media content and associated one ormore attributes with the recognized media items.

In case of the live media content, attributes, such as the time slot,playback sequence, the playback start time and the playback end time andthe playback duration, of each media item may vary with the availabilityof one or more promotional opportunities at the playback time of thelive media stream of the first distribution network 104A or the seconddistribution network 104B. Therefore, the attributes of each media itemmay be determined from the detection of the one or more executableidentifiers, such as SCTE-messages or ID3 tags, which may be packagedwith each of the media items within the media content. Each of theexecutable identifiers may be determined at a playback time of eachmedia item in the live media stream. Under integration-based control ofthe determination engine 206, the client application engine 116A may beconfigured to identify the playback start time and the playback end timeof each media item in the live media content of the first distributionnetwork 104A or the second distribution network 104B.

In accordance with the first operational configuration and the secondoperational configuration, the overlay engine 208 may be configured togenerate the interactive items for the determined media items in themedia content. A specification of each interactive item may be generatedbased on a defined behavior for the interactive items. The specificationmay include an overlay start time, an overlay end time, a template for agraphical, audio or audio visual presentation, a display size, a regionof an on-screen display, and the like.

As an example, a specification of an interactive item (A) for the mediaitem (A) (See First Example) may comprise an item identifier of“ABCD0001000”, an overlay text of “Add Furniture X to List”, an overlaystart time of “00:35:55”, an overlay end time of “00:36:20”, an overlayduration of “00:00:25”, an overlay template of a “transparent button”, adisplay size of “300 pixels×300 pixels”, an on-screen position of“(100,400), (400,400), (100,700), (400,700)”, and described input oftouch or gesture input. As another example, a specification of aninteractive item (B) for the media item (B) (See First Example) maycomprise an item identifier of “ABCD0001000”, an overlay text of “AddCar (Y) & Dealer to List”, an overlay start time of “00:38:35”, anoverlay end time of “00:40:35”, an overlay duration of “00:02:00”, anoverlay template of an “animated button”, a display size of “200pixels×200 pixels”, an on-screen position of “(100,300), (300,300),(100,500), (300,500)”, and described input of touch or gesture input.

The entries in the specification of each interactive item may becustomized as per stored/determined preferences of the user 118.Alternatively, the specification of each interactive item may becustomized for at least a geographical region, a public event, a certainsection of audience that may satisfy a defined demographic criteriameasured on the basis of age, gender, religion, language, wealth,income, and the like.

With reference to the first scenario and the second scenario, as theevent trigger management system 102 may be integrated with the clientapplication engine 116A, the overlay engine 208 may control theoperations of the client application engine 116A, to overlay thegenerated interactive items over the determined media items within themedia content. Each interactive item may be overlaid for a display atthe determined playback duration within the media content. Withreference to the third scenario, after the event trigger managementsystem 102 may receive the request through the network address, tooverlay the interactive items, the overlay engine 208 may be configuredto transmit the generated interactive items for an overlay at the userdevice 116. The overlay engine 208 may further control the operations ofthe client application engine 116A, to overlay the transmittedinteractive items over the determined media items, at the user device116.

With reference to the fourth scenario, as the media content is receivedby the event trigger management system 102, the overlay engine 208 mayoverlay the generated interactive items over the media items in thereceived media content and the media content overlaid with the generatedinteractive items may be transmitted to the first distribution network104A or the second distribution network 104B.

The overlay engine 208 may be further configured to overlay thegenerated interactive items over the determined media items of the mediacontent, at the client application engine 116A on the user device 116.For example, a media item, such as a “Beverage Ad Video” of a “BeverageOffering” may be played at a playback time, at the user device 116. Theplayback time of the “Beverage Ad Video” may be determined by thedetermination engine 206. A graphical button, which may be captioned as“Add to List”, as an interactive item, may be overlaid in a specificregion of “Beverage Ad Video.” A behavior of the “Add to List” graphicalbutton may be manipulated by the overlay engine 208 in conjunction withthe client application engine 116A. The manipulation may be associatedwith a user experience and a user interface, which may be personalizedfor the user 118. The user interface may be activated with selectionoptions, such as a touch, click, button-based, sound-based, voice-based,gesture-based, or a specialized circuitry for the selection of theinteractive items. For example, an interactive item (P) may display a“microphone icon” near the determined brand-logo of a “BeverageX.” Theuser 118 may provide a voice-based selection of the interactive item(P), and a trigger to add the “BeverageX” to a personalized list.

Preferably, the overlay duration of each interactive item may be equalto the playback duration of each media item, at the user device 116.Alternatively, the overlay duration of each interactive item may be moreor less than the playback duration of each media item, at the userdevice 116. In certain embodiments, the overlay duration for theinteractive items may not be fixed and may vary in accordance with userinteractions with the interactive items. In such cases, the clientapplication engine 116A may trigger the overlay engine 208 to terminatethe overlay of the interacted interactive items.

In accordance with the second operational configuration, the overlayengine 208 may be further configured to activate the overlaidinteractive items at the user device 116. The activation may correspondto an activation of a specific behavior of each of the interactive itemsfor the overlay duration, with the user selection or after the userselection of the interactive items. The behavior of each of theinteractive items for the overlay duration may include a set of visualor audio, audio-visual or haptic effects on each interactive item to getthe attention of the user 118 toward the overlaid interactive item, themedia item, or the product or service offering. Additionally, one ormore behavioral profiles for different geographical regions anddemographics may be utilized to configure the behavior of eachinteractivity item between the playback start time and the playback endtime of each media item. For example, a behavior profile of a 15year-old teen may be used to configure the behavior of the interactiveitems. The behavior profiles may be utilized to implement a touch-basedgame that may manipulate the 15 year-old teen to interact with the mediaitems during an engagement with the touch-based game.

Each user interaction with the interactive items may correspond to anevent trigger for a specific media item and associated product orservice offering. The client application engine 116A may be configuredto generate the event triggers for the one or more interactions of theuser 118 with the interactive items. The one or more interactions may beprovided based on a selection of the interactive items over the mediaitems. The selection of the media items may be activated based on atleast one of a touch input, a gesture input, a haptic feedback input, avoice input, or a specialized circuitry for a real-time wirelessselection of the media items.

As an example, the client application engine 116A may be accessed by auser on a touch-enabled device. The overlay engine 208 may generate oneor more touch-sensitive transparent buttons (as interactive items) foreach media item in the media content of the distribution network 104. Asanother example, the client application engine 116A may be accessed by auser on a gesture-enabled device. The overlay engine 208 may generateone or more gesture-sensitive animations for each media item in themedia content of the distribution network 104.

The generated event triggers may be transmitted to the detection engine210, the list server 212, and the user manager 214, via thecommunication network 126. The user manager 214 may record the eventtriggers in the user database 214A. Each event trigger may betransmitted along with an event metadata. The event metadata maycomprise a trigger time, a request type, an intent score, a triggeredmedia item, a product or service offering selection, and the like.

As an example, an event metadata (EMA) for an event triggered on aninteractivity item (A) (See Example 1 and 3) may comprise a detecteditem identifier “ABCD0001000”, a trigger identifier “TRABCD1000”, atrigger time “00:36:01”, a request type “Add to List”, an offeringSelected of “Furniture X”, an intent score of “0.76”, and a responsetime of “06 seconds.”

The intent score may be a normalized score that may provide aquantifiable measure of intent or an interest of the user 118 for thedisplayed or promoted product or service offerings associated with themedia items. The trigger time and the intent score may be utilized by atargeting engine (not shown) to target the user 118 with promotionaloffers or advertisements, such as discounts, sales and product orservice notifications, for the interacted product or service offering.Similarly, the response time may be a time taken by the user 118 fromthe overlay start time to provide interaction over the overlaidinteractive item. The response time may be utilized to evaluate theintent score of the user 118 for the promoted product or serviceoffering associated with the media items.

For example, an interactive item may be interacted upon by a user for acar-based media item that may be scheduled for a playback duration of“30 seconds.” An interaction may be provided by the user within thefirst “10 seconds” of the overlay duration. The intent score of the user118 for the interacted interactive item may evaluate to a high score,for example, “0.67/1.0.” The intent score may be utilized by the listserver 212 or the targeting engine to assign preference or priority fortargeting the user with the promotional content. The targeting enginemay be a proprietary targeting engine or may be a third-service-providertargeting engine which may be operationally managed by at least one ofaffiliates, advertisers, product or service owners, brand promoters, orsubscriber networks.

The detection engine 210 may be configured to receive the event triggersfrom the client application engine 116A for a selection of the activatedinteractive items, which may correspond to the media items in the mediacontent of at least the first distribution network 104A or the seconddistribution network 1046. Additionally, the event metadata may bereceived by the detection engine 210 for each of the event triggers. Thedetection engine 210 may parse or filter the event metadata for each ofthe event triggers. The event metadata may be parsed or filtered forstorage and analysis of the one or more user interactions by each of theuser manager 214 and the list server 212.

An event response request may be generated by the detection engine 210for each of the event triggers as received from the client applicationengine 116A. The event response request may be transmitted to thegeneration engine 212A of the list server 212. Additionally, the eventmetadata may be transmitted to the list database 212B of the list server212. The list database 212B may be configured to store informationassociated with each of the received event triggers and the associatedevent metadata. The generation engine 212A may generate a personalizedlist based on the received event triggers for the overlaid interactiveitems. The generated personalized list may comprise at least one listitem that may correspond to the media items in the media content of thedistribution network 104. Each list item may specify a product offeringor a service offering that may be include at least a thumbnail, a title,a set of tags, a Uniform Resource Locater (URL) and the like.

In accordance with the first operational configuration, the generationengine 212A may be configured to display the generated personalized listwith the media content at the user interface of the client applicationengine 116A, for a defined time duration. The display of thepersonalized list for the defined time duration may advantageouslyincrease an intent score of the user 118 to request the services for aspecific offering that may correspond to a list item of the personalizedlist.

In accordance with the second operational configuration, the generationengine 212A may be configured to transmit the generated personalizedlist to at least one of the first distribution network 104A, the seconddistribution network 104B or the client application engine 116Aoperational on the user device 116. The personalized list may betransmitted for a display with the media content, at the user interfaceof the client application engine 116A, for defined time duration.

In certain embodiments, the generation engine 212A may be configured tocontrol an overlay of the generated personalized list on the mediacontent, at the user interface of the client application engine 116A.The overlay may be controlled for the display of the generatedpersonalized list, at the media player that operates under control ofthe client application engine 116A, for the defined time duration. Thecontrolled overlay of the generated personalized list may be facilitatedby the integration of the event trigger management system 102 with theclient application engine 116A on the user device 116.

The defined display start time and the display end time may bepre-evaluated to advantageously get the attention of the user 118 oraffect the intent of the user 118. The display of the personalized listfor the defined time duration may advantageously increase an intentscore of the user 118 to request the services for a specific offering,which may correspond to the one or more list items of the personalizedlist. In accordance with an embodiment, the generation engine 212A maybe further configured to push the generated personalized list over theone or more delivery platforms associated with the user 118. The one ormore delivery platforms may include an e-mail platform, a mobilemessaging platform, a webpage, a podcast, and a push notification-basedplatform. The generated personalized list may be communicated in a pushnotification over the one or more delivery platforms that may beaccessible on the one or more delivery devices 120. Additionally,promotional content may be pushed to the one or more delivery devices120 to notify the user 118 about the product or service offerings thatmay be selected by the user 118 while streaming the media content.

The generation engine 212A of the list server 212 may be furtherconfigured to deliver services, through the one or more deliveryplatforms or client application engine 116A on the user device 116,associated with the user 118. The services may be delivered based on theselection of the one or more user-selectable options in the personalizedlist, displayed with the media content of the distribution network 104.The services may be rendered based on an intent or interest shown by theuser 118 to select products or services promoted with the media items inthe media content of a distribution network 104. For example, a user(Alex) may select a product (X) and a service (Y) during broadcast of ascheduled program (Z). The product (X) and the service (Y) may be sharedon a social platform to pool funds for the product (X) and the service(Y). The request to render services over the selection of the product(X) and the service (Y) may be facilitated by the event triggermanagement system 102.

To deliver such services, the one or more user-selectable options may beadded and activated for one or more of the list items in thepersonalized list. Each of the one or more user-selectable options maycorrespond to a user-defined request to at least share, purchase, poolfunds, reverse bid, add, or modify or delete the one or more list itemsin the generated personalized list. The one or more user-selectableoptions comprise an option to share on a social platform, transfer thegenerated list to at least one third-service-provider seller, purchasethe at least one list item, provide a reverse bid for the at least onelist item, and modify the at least one list item in the generated list.The services and associated stages of delivery have been described as anexample in FIG. 7A-7E.

The detection engine 210 may receive user-defined requests for theselection of the one or more user-selectable options in the personalizedlist. The user-defined requests may be received as the event triggers atthe detection engine 210. In accordance with an embodiment, auser-selectable option for a service may correspond to an option toshare the one or more list items in the personalized list on a socialplatform that comprises a group of users. In one case, the group ofusers may be associated with the user 118 that selects theuser-selectable option to share the one or more list items to the groupof users on the social platform. In another case, the group of users maybe listed in a public list (i.e. with public access) that may bepublished by the user 118 on the social platform.

The social media server 124 may be configured to execute tasksassociated with the request to share the one or more list items in thepersonalized list to a group of users on the social platform. Inaccordance with another embodiment, a user-selectable option for aservice may correspond to an option to purchase the one or more listitem in the personalized list. The user manager 214 or the transactionengine may be configured to execute tasks associated with the request topurchase the one or more list items in the personalized list. Therequested one or more list items may be transferred to a seller cart ordirectly billed for payment via defined payment engines. In accordancewith yet another embodiment, a user-selectable option for a service maycorrespond to an option to provide a desired reverse bid for the atleast one list item in the personalized list. The reverse bidding server122 may facilitate submission of at least one reverse bid for the one ormore list items.

The generation engine 212A may be further configured to generate one ormore notifications based on the selection of one of the overlaidinteractive items and the one or more user-selectable options in thepersonalized list. The one or more notifications may be notified via theclient application engine 116A or the one or more delivery platforms onthe one or more delivery devices 120, associated with the user 118. Thegenerated personalized list may be updated by the generation engine212A, in the list database 212B. For example, a user (Phil), engaged ina music listening activity via a music application on a mobile device,may hear a promotional sound clip that may recite the selected productofferings or service offering to Phil. Alternatively, Phil may receive anotification or a pop-up message on the music application or the mobiledevice, with the personalized list. The promotional content may comprisepromotional items, which may be an advertisement for a product, service,causes, or watched programs in the media content. The promotionalcontent may be present in one or more formats. The one or more formatsof the promotional content may be present to suitably target each of theone or more delivery platforms. Examples of the one or more formatsinclude, but are not limited to, a video format, an audio format, a textformat, an image format, or a suitable programmable or non-programmableinstructions format. The promotional content may correspond to aninteractive selectable item such that each selection may be recorded aspart of a select stream for the corresponding user. Additionally, viewsor intent to select may be recorded as impressions or page redirectionsor commercial sale on a redirected page in real time.

It may be noted that the present disclosure has been described for anengagement of a single user with a single client application engine.However, one of ordinarily skill in the art would appreciate that thepresent disclosure may be applicable for a plurality of users that mayengage with a plurality of client application engines, without adeviation from the scope of the disclosure. The engagement may beconcurrent, sequential or at random from the plurality of users. Theevent trigger management system 102 may optimally balance therequirements and manage a plurality of requests from the plurality ofusers in real time.

FIG. 3A is a flow chart that illustrates exemplary operations forcontent provider-managed delivery of OTT services through contentprovider-managed client application engines, in accordance with anexemplary embodiment of the disclosure. The exemplary operations may beperformed by the exemplary event trigger management system of FIG. 2 .FIG. 3A is explained in conjunction with FIG. 1A and FIG. 2 . In FIG.3A, there is shown a flow chart 300 that comprises exemplary operationsfrom 302 through 322. The exemplary operations may start at 302 andproceed to 304.

At 304, media items may be determined within media content of adistribution network 104. The determination engine 206 may be configuredto determine the media items within the media content of a distributionnetwork 104. The determination of the media items may be analogous to adetermination of a schedule and one or more attributes of each of themedia items within the media content. Alternatively, the CR engine 216may be configured to determine the media items within the media contentbased on a content recognition of the media content of the distributionnetwork 104 (as discussed in FIG. 2 ).

At 306, interactive items may be overlaid over the determined mediaitems in the media content of the distribution network 104. The overlayengine 208 may be configured to overlay the interactive items on thedetermined media items in the media content of the distribution network104. Each interactive item may be overlaid sequentially at a determinedplayback time of each media item in the media content. Alternatively,each interactive item may be overlaid simultaneously on the mediacontent (as discussed in FIG. 2 ).

At 308, event triggers may be received from the client applicationengine 116A based on the selection of the interactive items overlaidover the media items, within the media content of the distributionnetwork 104. The detection engine 210 may be configured to receive theevent triggers from the client application engine 116A. The eventtriggers may be received based on the selection of the interactive itemsoverlaid over the media items (e.g., a non-programming media item)provided within the media content (e.g. a programming media item) of thedistribution network 104. An event response request may be generated bythe detection engine 210 for each of the event triggers received fromthe client application engine 116A (as discussed in detail in FIG. 2 ).

At 310, a personalized list may be generated for the event triggers thatmay correspond to the selection of the interactive items in the mediacontent. The generation engine 212A may be configured to generate thepersonalized list based on the received event triggers for the overlaidinteractive items over the media items in the media content. Thegenerated personalized list may comprise one or more list items that maybe associated with the media items of the media content of thedistribution network 104. The personalized list may correspond to a Wishlist of user-selected product or service offerings (as discussed in inFIG. 2 ).

At 312, the generated personalized list may be displayed with the mediacontent at the client application engine 116A, for defined timeduration. The overlay engine 208 may be configured to display thegenerated personalized list with the media content, at the clientapplication engine 116A, for the defined time duration. In certainembodiments, the personalized list may be packaged with the mediacontent, or pushed over the one or more delivery platforms that may beassociated with the user 118 (as discussed in FIG. 2 ).

At 314, one or more notifications may be notified to the user 118through the client application engine 116A or the one or more deliveryplatforms associated with the user 118. The generation engine 212A maybe configured to notify the user 118 with the one or more notifications,through the client application engine 116A or the one or more deliveryplatforms, accessible on the one or more delivery devices 120. The oneor more notifications may be notified to the user 118 based on theselection of the interactive items or the one or more user-selectableoptions displayed with the personalized list (as discussed in FIG. 2 ).

At 316, it is determined whether a user-selectable option is selected bythe user 118. The generation engine 212A may be configured to determinewhether a user-selectable option for a list item is selected by the user118, at the client application engine 116A or the one or more deliveryplatforms associated with the user 118. In an instance, when auser-selectable option in the personalized list is selected, controlpasses to 318. In another instance, when a user-selectable option is notselected, control passes to 320.

At 318, services may be delivered through the one or more deliveryplatforms or the user device 116 associated with the user, based on theselection of the user-selectable options. The generation engine 212A maybe configured to deliver the services through the one or more deliveryplatforms or the user device 116 associated with the user, based on theselection of the user-selectable options (as described in in FIGS. 2 and7A-7E).

At 320, the generated personalized list may be updated based on theselection of the interactive items and the one or more user-selectableoptions. The generation engine 212A may be configured to update thegenerated personalized list in the list database 212B, based on theselection of the interactive items and the one or more user-selectableoptions. Control ends at 322.

FIG. 3B is a flow chart that illustrates exemplary operations for adetermination of media items, scheduled for insertion in media contentof a distribution network managed by a first service provider, inaccordance with an exemplary embodiment of the disclosure. The exemplaryoperations for the determination of media items may be executed by theexemplary event trigger management system of FIG. 2 . FIG. 3B isexplained in conjunction with FIGS. 1A, 1B, 2 and 3A. In FIG. 3B, thereis shown a flow chart 304, that comprises sub-steps of 304 of flowchart300, from 304A through 304G. The exemplary operations for thedetermination of media items may start at 304A.

At 304A, requested media content of distribution network 104 may bereceived. The determination engine 206 may receive the requested mediacontent from the CDN 106 of the distribution network 104, in response toa request received from the client application engine 116A, via thecommunication network 126.

At 304B, it is determined whether the received media content comprisesnon-linear media content. The determination engine 206 may determinewhether the requested media content comprises non-linear media content.In an instance, when the requested media content comprises non-linearmedia content, control passes to 304F. In another instance, when therequested media content doesn't comprise the non-linear media content,control passes to 304C.

At 304C, it is determined whether the linear media content comprises atleast the live media content. The determination engine 206 may determinewhether the linear media content comprises at least the live mediacontent. In an instance, when the linear media content comprises atleast the live media content, control passes to 304D. In anotherinstance, when the linear media content doesn't comprise the live mediacontent, control passes to 304F.

At 304D, item identifiers may be inserted with the media items that maybe packaged with the media content. In accordance with an embodiment,the determination engine 206 or the live media server 110 may beconfigured to insert the item identifiers, such as an ID3 tag or anSCTE-35 message, with the media items prior to the packaging of themedia items with the media content. In accordance with anotherembodiment, the media items server 108 may be configured to insert theitem identifiers with the media items.

At 304E, the media items may be detected at a playback time of the mediaitems in the media content based on the detection of the inserted one ormore item identifiers with the media items, at a playback time of themedia items. The determination engine 206 may be configured to detectthe media items at a playback time of the media items in the mediacontent, based on the detection of the inserted one or more itemidentifiers with the media items, at a playback time of the media items.Control returns to 306 of the flow chart 300.

At 304F, a defined list of media items, time-scheduled to be inserted inthe media content, may be fetched. The determination engine 206 may beconfigured to fetch the defined list of media items, time scheduled tobe inserted in the media content, from the schedule database 114A of thescheduler system 114. The defined list of media items may comprise theone or more attributes, such as the playback start time and the playbackend time, of each of the media items (as discussed in FIG. 2 ).

At 304G, the media items may be determined from the fetched list ofmedia items for insertion in the media content, from the fetched list ofmedia items time-scheduled to be inserted in the media content. Thedetermination engine 206 may be configured to determine the media itemsfrom the fetched list of media items for insertion in the media content,from the fetched list of media items time-scheduled to be inserted inthe media content. Control returns to 306 of the flow chart 300.

FIG. 4A and FIG. 4B is a flow chart that illustrates exemplaryoperations for controlled delivery of services for event triggers fromthird-service-provider client application engines that stream mediacontent from third-service-provider content providers, by the exemplarytrigger event management system of FIG. 2 , in accordance with anexemplary embodiment of the present disclosure. The exemplary operationsfor the management and delivery of services may be performed by theexemplary event trigger management system of FIG. 2 . FIG. 4A and FIG.4B is explained in conjunction with FIG. 1B and FIG. 2 . Referring toFIG. 4A and FIG. 4B, there is shown a flow chart 400 that comprisesexemplary operations from 402 through 426. The exemplary operations forthe management and delivery of services may start at 402 and proceed to404.

At 404, a request may be received from the first distribution network104A or the second distribution network 104B to generate the interactiveitems. The determination engine 206 may be configured to receive therequest, via the communication network 126, from at least one of thefirst distribution network 104A and the second distribution network104B, to generate the interactive items (as discussed in FIG. 2 ).

At 406, interactive items may be generated for the received request fromat least one of the first distribution network 104A or the seconddistribution network 104B. The overlay engine 208 may be configured togenerate the interactive items for the received request from at leastone of the first distribution network 104A or the second distributionnetwork 1046. The generated interactive items may be utilized for anoverlay over the media items in the media content of at least the firstdistribution network 104A or the second distribution network 1046 (asdiscussed in FIG. 2 ).

At 408, the overlay of the interactive items may be controlled over themedia items in the media content of the first distribution network 104Aor the second distribution network 1046. The overlay engine 208 may beconfigured to control the client application engine 116A, for an overlayof the interactive items over the media items in the media content ofthe first distribution network 104A or the second distribution network1046 (as discussed in FIG. 2 ).

At 410, the interactive items overlaid over the media items of the mediacontent of at least the first distribution network 104A or the seconddistribution network 1046 may be activated. The overlay engine 208 maybe configured to activate the interactive items overlaid over the mediaitems of the media content of at least the first distribution network104A or the second distribution network 104B. The activation maycorrespond to an activation of a behavior of each of the interactiveitems for the overlay duration, for the user-selection or after theuser-selection.

At step 412, event triggers may be received from the client applicationengine 116A operational on the user device 116 associated with the user,for the selection of the activated interactive items over the mediacontent of at least the first distribution network 104A or the seconddistribution network 104B. The detection engine 210 may be configured toreceive the event triggers from the client application engine 116Aoperational on the user device 116 associated with the user, for theselection of the activated interactive items over the media content ofat least the first distribution network 104A or the second distributionnetwork 104B. An event response request may be generated by thedetection engine 210 for each of the event triggers received from theclient application engine 116A (as discussed in FIG. 2 ).

At step 414, a personalized list may be generated for the received eventtriggers, for a selection of the interactive items. The generationengine 212A may be configured to generate the personalized list for thereceived event triggers, for a selection of the interactive items. Thegenerated personalized list may comprise one or more list items that maycorrespond to the media items in the media stream of the firstdistribution network 104A or the second distribution network 1046 (asdiscussed in FIG. 2 ).

At step 416, the generated personalized list may be transmitted fordisplay for defined time duration, to at least one of the firstdistribution network 104A, the second distribution network 104B or theclient application engine 116A. Additionally, the personalized list maybe pushed over the one or more delivery platforms associated with theuser 118. The generation engine 212A may transmit the personalized list,via the communication network 126, to the first distribution network104A, the second distribution network 104B or the client applicationengine 116A (as discussed in FIG. 2 ).

At 418, one or more notifications may be notified to the user 118through the client application engine 116A or the one or more deliveryplatforms associated with the user 118. The generation engine 212A maybe configured to notify the user 118 with the one or more notifications,through the client application engine 116A or the one or more deliveryplatforms, accessible on the one or more delivery devices 120. The oneor more notifications may be notified to the user 118 based on theselection of the interactive items or the one or more user-selectableoptions displayed with the personalized list (as discussed in FIG. 2 ).

At 420, it is determined whether a user-selectable option is selected bythe user 118. The generation engine 212A may be configured to determinewhether a user-selectable option for a list item is selected by theuser, at the client application engine 116A or the one or more deliveryplatforms associated with the user 118. In an instance, when the user118 selects a user-selectable option in the personalized list, controlpasses to 318. In another instance, when the user 118 does not select auser-selectable option, control passes to 320.

At 422, services may be delivered through the one or more deliveryplatforms or the user device 116 associated with the user, based on theselection of the user-selectable options. The generation engine 212A maybe configured to deliver the services through the one or more deliveryplatforms or the user device 116 associated with the user, based on theselection of the user-selectable options (as described in in FIGS. 2 and7A-7E).

At 424, the generated personalized list may be updated based on theselection of the interactive items and the one or more user-selectableoptions. The generation engine 212A may be configured to update thegenerated personalized list in the list database 212B, based on theselection of the interactive items and the one or more user-selectableoptions. Control ends at 426.

FIG. 5 is a flow chart that illustrates exemplary operations forcontrolled delivery of services for event triggers fromthird-service-provider client application engines that stream mediacontent from third-service-provider content providers, by the exemplarytrigger event management system of FIG. 2 , in accordance with anexemplary embodiment of the present disclosure. The exemplary operationsfor the management and delivery of services may be executed by theexemplary event trigger management system of FIG. 2 . FIG. 5 isexplained in conjunction with FIG. 1B, FIG. 2 , FIG. 4A and FIG. 4B. InFIG. 5 , there is shown a flow chart 500 that comprises exemplaryoperations from 502 through 516. The exemplary operations may start at502 and proceed to 504.

At 504, a defined list of media items may be received from the firstdistribution network 104A or the second distribution network 104B. Thedetermination engine 206 may be configured to receive the defined listof media items from the first distribution network 104A or the seconddistribution network 104B. Each media item in the defined list of mediaitems may be associated with an item identifier, such as Ad-ID, whichmay be used to generate the one or more executable identifiers or theinteractive items (as discussed in detail in FIG. 2 ).

At 506, one or more executable identifiers and interactive items may beprovided to at least the first distribution network 104A or the seconddistribution network 104B. The overlay engine 208 may be configured toprovide the one or more executable identifiers and the interactive itemsto at least the first distribution network 104A or the seconddistribution network 104B.

At 508, insertion of the one or more executable identifiers and theinteractive items with the media content from at least the firstdistribution network 104A or the second distribution network 104B may becontrolled. The overlay engine 208 may be configured to control theinsertion of the one or more executable identifiers, such as the SCTE-35messages or the ID3 tags, and the interactive items at the scheduledplayback time of the media items within the media content.

At 510, event triggers may be received from the client applicationengine 116A at the playback time of the media items, inserted with theone or more executable identifiers and the interactive items. Thedetection engine 210 may be configured to receive the event triggerswithin the playback duration, from the client application engine 116A atthe playback time of the media items, inserted with the one or moreexecutable identifiers and the interactive items.

At 512, a personalized list may be generated for the user 118 based onthe event triggers received from the client application engine 116A. Thegeneration engine 212A may be configured to generate the personalizedlist for the user 118 based on the event triggers received from theclient application engine 116A (as discussed in FIG. 2 ).

At step 514, the generated personalized list may be transmitted over toat least the first distribution network 104A, the second distributionnetwork 104B or the client application engine 116A. Additionally, thepersonalized list may be pushed over the one or more delivery platformsassociated with the user. The generation engine 212A may transmit thepersonalized list, via the communication network 126, to at least thefirst distribution network 104A, the second distribution network 104B orthe client application engine 116A. Control ends at 516.

FIG. 6 is a flow chart that illustrates exemplary operations forcontrolled delivery of services for event triggers fromthird-service-provider client application engines that stream mediacontent from third-service-provider content providers, by the exemplarytrigger event management system of FIG. 2 , in accordance with anexemplary embodiment of the present disclosure. The exemplary operationsmay be executed by the exemplary event trigger management system of FIG.2 . FIG. 6 is explained in conjunction with FIG. 1B, FIG. 2 , FIG. 4A,FIG. 4B, and FIG. 5 . In FIG. 6 , there is shown a flow chart 600 thatcomprises exemplary operations from 602 through 616. The exemplaryoperations may start at 602 and proceed to 604.

At 604, media items may be received from at least the first distributionnetwork 104A or the second distribution network 104B. The determinationengine 206 may receive the media items from at least the firstdistribution network 104A or the second distribution network 104B.Additionally, in some cases, one or more attributes and playbackschedule of the media items may be further received by the determinationengine 206.

At 606, interactive items may be overlaid over the media items receivedfrom at least the first distribution network 104A or the seconddistribution network 104B. The overlay engine 208 may be configured tooverlay the interactive items over the media items received from atleast the first distribution network 104A or the second distributionnetwork 104B. Each of the interactive items may be generated inaccordance with the received schedule or the received one or moreattributes for each of the media items.

At 608, the media items overlaid with the interactive items may betransmitted to at least the first distribution network 104A or thesecond distribution network 104B. The overlay engine 208 may transmitthe media items overlaid with the interactive items to at least thefirst distribution network 104A or the second distribution network 104B,via the communication network 126.

At 610, event triggers may be received from the client applicationengine 116A operational on the user device 116 associated with the user,for the selection of the activated interactive items over the mediacontent of at least the first distribution network 104A or the seconddistribution network 104B. The detection engine 210 may be configured toreceive the event triggers from the client application engine 116Aoperational on the user device 116 associated with the user, for theselection of the activated interactive items over the media content ofat least the first distribution network 104A or the second distributionnetwork 104B. An event response request may be generated by thedetection engine 210 for each of the event triggers received from theclient application engine 116A (as discussed in FIG. 2 ).

At 612, a personalized list may be generated for the received eventtriggers, for a selection of the interactive items. The generationengine 212A may be configured to generate the personalized list for thereceived event triggers, for a selection of the interactive items. Thegenerated personalized list may comprise one or more list items that maycorrespond to the media items in the media stream of the firstdistribution network 104A or the second distribution network 1046 (asdiscussed in FIG. 2 ).

At 614, the generated personalized list may be transmitted for displayfor defined time duration, to at least one of the first distributionnetwork 104A, the second distribution network 104B or the clientapplication engine 116A. Additionally, the personalized list may bepushed over the one or more delivery platforms associated with the user118. The generation engine 212A may transmit the personalized list, viathe communication network 126, to the first distribution network 104A,the second distribution network 1046 or the client application engine116A. Control ends at 616.

FIG. 7A is a block diagram that illustrates a time-lined generation anddisplay of a personalized list, under control of the event triggermanagement system, at a user interface of a user device, in accordancewith an embodiment of the disclosure. FIG. 7A is explained inconjunction with FIG. 1A, FIG. 1B, FIG. 2 , and FIG. 3-6 . Thetime-lined display of a personalized list 708 is merely shown as anexample to illustrate selection of the interactive items forcorresponding product or service offerings and generation of thepersonalized list 708 for the selections of the interactive items.

In FIG. 7A, there is shown a user interface at the user device 116 thatdisplays the interactive items over streamed media items and thepersonalized list 708 that gets updated with product or serviceofferings upon selections of the displayed interactive items. The clientapplication engine 116A at the user device 116 may be controlled basedon integration (such as access and permission grants) with the eventtrigger management system 102.

At a first time, a media item 702A may be streamed from the CDN 106 anddisplayed at the user interface of the client application engine 116A.Thereafter, an interactive item 704A may be rendered as overlayinteractive graphics on the media item 702A. At a second time, a mediaitem 702B may be streamed and displayed at the user interface of clientapplication engine 116A. At a third time, a media item 702C may bestreamed from the CDN 106 and displayed at the user interface of theclient application engine 116A. Interactive items 704A, 704B and 704Cmay be rendered on the media item 702A, 702B and 702C, respectively. Auser, engaged with the media content, selects the overlaid interactiveitem 704A and 704B at the first time and the second time, respectively.Upon selections of the interactive item 704A and 704B, a personalizedlist 708 is rendered and displayed at the user interface of the clientapplication engine 116A, which comprises at least one list item, such asa product offering 706A and a service offering 706B. The aforementionedgeneration, rendering and display of the media items 702A, 702B, and702C, and subsequent overlay of the interactive items 704A, 704B and704C and the personalized list 708 may be controlled by the eventtrigger management system 102. The personalized list 708 may be servedto the client application engine 116A to facilitate the user 118 torequest the delivery of the services associated with the selected listitems in the personalized list 708, such as offering-purchases, reversebids, sharing on social platforms, and the like.

FIG. 7B is a block diagram that illustrates a user interface within aclient application engine that facilitates a display of generatedpersonalized lists with user-selectable options on multiple userdevices, in accordance with an embodiment of the disclosure. FIG. 7B isexplained in conjunction with FIG. 1A, FIG. 1B, FIG. 2 , FIG. 3-6 , andFIG. 7A. The user interface of a mobile delivery device 120 and the userdevice 116 are merely shown as an example to illustrate the display ofthe personalized list on the one or more delivery platforms accessibleon the mobile delivery device 120 and the user device 116.

In FIG. 7B, there is shown the user interface of the user device 116 anda delivery platform (not shown) on the mobile delivery device 120. Uponselections of the interactive item 704A (FIG. 7A) and the interactiveitem 704B (FIG. 7A), the personalized list 708 (FIG. 7A) that comprisesthe product offering 706A and the service offering 706B, may be pushedand displayed at the user interface of the user device 116 andsimilarly, on the delivery platform of the mobile delivery device 120.The event trigger management system 102 may control activation of one ormore user-selectable options for the product offering 706A and theservice offering 706B. The product offering 706A may include an optionto share 710A, bid 710B, buy 710C and the service offering 706B mayinclude an option to provide a user-defined request to share 710D, bid710E and buy 710F. The user-selectable options may facilitate a user torequest delivery of services from the event trigger management system102.

FIG. 7C is a block diagram that illustrates a user interface within athird service provider-managed client application engine thatfacilitates to share generated personalized lists or list items onsocial platforms under control of the first service provider-managedevent trigger management system of FIG. 2 , in accordance with anembodiment of the disclosure. FIG. 7C is explained in conjunction withFIG. 1A, FIG. 1B, FIG. 2 , FIG. 3-6 , FIG. 7A, and FIG. 7B. The userinterface at the user device 116 and one or more social views 712A-E aremerely shown as an example to illustrate social sharing service for auser. The social sharing service may be delivered upon the selection ofthe share 710A option on the personalized list 708 (FIG. 7A).

After the share option 710A may be selected by the user for the productoffering 706A on the personalized list 708, the selection may betransmitted as a user-defined request to the event trigger managementsystem 102 and the social media server 124. The transmitted request maybe considered for delivery of the service to share the product offering706A of the personalized list 708 to a group of users on the socialplatform. The social platform may be illustrated as the one or moresocial views 712A-E of a group of users. In one case, the group of usersmay be associated with the user that selects the user-selectable optionto share the one or more list items to the group of users on the socialplatform. In another case, the group of users may be listed in a publiclist (i.e. with public access) that may be published by the user on thesocial platform. Each of social view may display at least one ofgraphical, audible or textual view of the shared product offering 706A.The event trigger management system 102 may control delivery ofresponses or feedbacks on the shared product offering 706A to the user.The responses or feedbacks may be provided by at least one user in thegroup of users. Additionally, the event trigger management system 102may control pooling of funds for the shared product offering 706A as pera request to pool funds for the shared product offering 706A.

FIG. 7D is a block diagram that illustrates a user interface at a userdevice that provides a request to the event trigger management system ofFIG. 2 , to reverse bid on products or services displayed in apersonalized list, in accordance with an embodiment of the disclosure.FIG. 7D is explained in conjunction with FIG. 1A, FIG. 1B, FIG. 2 , FIG.3-6 , FIG. 7A, FIG. 7B, and FIG. 7C.

The user interface of the user device 116 and a seller view 714A aremerely shown as an example to illustrate the control and delivery of areverse bidding service for the user, upon the selection of the bid 710Boption on the personalized list 708 (FIG. 7A). After the user selectsthe bid 710B option for the product offering 706A on the personalizedlist 708, the selection may be transmitted as a user-defined request tothe event trigger management system 102 and the reverse bidding server122. The transmitted request is considered for delivery of reversebidding service for the selected product offering 706A in thepersonalized list 708.

In response to the selection of the bid 710B option, a bidding page viewis displayed over a user interface of the client application engine116A. The bidding page view provides a field that takes price andquantity (not shown) as input. The price corresponds to a reverse bid,for example, a reverse bid of “20 USD”, which the user may be willing topay for the selected product offering 706A. The bidding page view may bea part of the personalized list 708 or may be rendered as a standaloneview by the client application engine 116A or associated deliveryplatforms on the delivery device 120 (FIG. 7B) of the user. The eventtrigger management system 102, in conjunction with the reverse biddingserver 122, may push the reverse bid from the user for the productoffering 706A, on the seller view 714A. The seller view 714A maycorrespond to a graphical user interface (GUI) of the seller-end clientapplication engine 116A. The seller view 714A, upon receiving thereverse bid, may be activated with an option to accept the reverse bidfor the product offering 706A. Alternatively, the seller view 714A maybe activated with an option to negotiate the reverse bid or offerpromotional discounts on the product offering 706A. The aforementionedcommunication and delivery of reverse bidding service for the user andnegotiation options for the sellers is facilitated by the event triggermanagement system 102 in conjunction with the reverse bidding server122.

FIG. 7E is a block diagram that illustrates a user interface at a userdevice that provides a request to the event trigger management system ofFIG. 2 , to purchase products or services displayed in a personalizedlist, in accordance with an embodiment of the disclosure. The userinterface of the user device 116 and a seller cart 714B are merely shownas an example to illustrate the delivery of buy service for the user,upon the selection of the buy option 710C and 710F from the personalizedlist 708. After the user selects the buy option 710C and the buy option710F for the product offering 706A and the service offering 706B on thepersonalized list 708, the selection is transmitted as a user-definedrequest to the event trigger management system 102 and a transactionsystem 716, which may be managed by the first service provider of thedistribution network 104 or a third service provider transactionalnetwork. The transmitted request may be considered for delivery of a buyservice for the product offering 706A and the service offering 706B inthe personalized list 708. In response to the selection of the buyoption 710C and the buy option 710F, the seller cart 714B may bedisplayed at the user interface of the user device 116. The seller cart714B may further provide an option to pool funds for the selectedproduct offering 706A or the service offering 706B. Additionally, anoption to checkout or purchase the selected product offering 706A andthe service offering 706B may be activated for the user. The seller cart714B may displays price, such as “20 USD” and “10 USD”, for the productoffering 706A and the service offering 706B. The seller cart 714B may bea proprietary seller cart or an affiliate seller cart that may beassociated with resellers or sellers of the product or serviceofferings. The event trigger management system 102, in conjunction withthe transaction system 716, may facilitate the user to completepayment/transaction for the selected product offering 706A and theservice offering 706B.

FIG. 8 is a conceptual diagram that illustrates an example of a hardwareimplementation for the event trigger management system of FIG. 2 thatemploys a processing system for delivery of OTT services through clientapplication engines, in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of thedisclosure. In FIG. 8 , the hardware implementation is shown by arepresentation 800 for the event trigger management system 102 thatemploys a processing system 802 for management and delivery of serviceson a distribution network 104, in response to the event triggers, inaccordance with an exemplary embodiment of the disclosure, as describedherein. In some examples, the processing system 802 may comprise one ormore hardware processors 804, a non-transitory computer-readable medium806, the integration engine 204, the determination engine 206, theoverlay engine 208, the detection engine 210, the generation engine 212Aand the list database 212B in the list server 212, the user manager 214,and the CR engine 216.

In this example, the event trigger management system 102 that employsthe processing system 802 may be implemented with bus architecture,represented generally by a bus 808. The bus 808 may include any numberof interconnecting buses and bridges depending on the specificimplementation of the event trigger management system 102 and theoverall design constraints. The bus 808 links together various circuitsincluding the one or more processors, represented generally by thehardware processor 804, the non-transitory computer-readable media,represented generally by the computer-readable medium 806, theintegration engine 204, the determination engine 206, the overlay engine208, the detection engine 210, the generation engine 212A and the listdatabase 212B in the list server 212, the user manager 214, and the CRengine 216 which may be configured to carry out one or more operationsor methods described herein. A bus interface 810 provides an interfacebetween the bus 808 and a transceiver 812. The transceiver 812facilitates communication via the communication network 126 (FIG. 1A andFIG. 1B) with various other apparatus, such as the CDN 106, thescheduler system 114 and the user device 116.

The hardware processor 804 may be configured to manage the bus 808 andgeneral processing, including the execution of a set of instructionsstored on the computer-readable medium 806. The set of instructions,when executed by the hardware processor 804, causes the event triggermanagement system 102 to execute the various functions described hereinfor any particular apparatus. The computer-readable medium 806 may alsobe used for storing data that is manipulated by the hardware processor804 when executing the set of instructions. The computer-readable medium806 may also be configured to store data for one or more of theintegration engine 204, the determination engine 206, the overlay engine208, the detection engine 210, the generation engine 212A and the listdatabase 212B in the list server 212, the user manager 214, and the CRengine 216.

In an aspect of the disclosure, the hardware processor 804, thecomputer-readable medium 806, or a combination of both may be configuredor otherwise specially programmed to execute the operations orfunctionality of the integration engine 204, the determination engine206, the overlay engine 208, the detection engine 210, the generationengine 212A and the list database 212B in the list server 212, the usermanager 214, and the CR engine 216, or various other componentsdescribed herein. For example, the hardware processor 804,computer-readable medium 806, or a combination of both may be configuredor otherwise specially programmed to perform the operations andfunctionality of the integration engine 204, the determination engine206, the overlay engine 208, the detection engine 210, the generationengine 212A and the list database 212B in the list server 212, the usermanager 214, and the CR engine 216 as described with respect to FIGS.1A, 1B, 2, 3A, 3B, 4, 5, 6, and 7A-E.

The present disclosure may provide several advantages over thetraditional service delivery and management solutions, over applicationplatforms streaming content from different distribution networks. Amediation w.r.t access and control of the client application engine 116Aby the integration engine 204, facilitates the event trigger managementsystem 102 to overlay interactivities, measure intent and adaptivelyalign the behavior of the interactive items without direct managementand ownership of the client application engine 116A or the user device116. The availability of the schedule database 114A discourages use ofcontent recognition (CR) on the media content, and therefore, the eventtrigger management system 102 may not require additional permissions oradhere to constraints imposed upon the use of the schedule database114A. Absence of the permission requirements and constraints providefaster overlay of interactive items and simultaneous delivery ofpersonalized list upon selections of the interactive items. Theavailability of the schedule database 114A facilitates lower consumptionof resources, such as memory, bandwidth and processing power as comparedto the consumption by the automatic content recognition of the one ormore media items. The memory and bandwidth of the communication network126 or the event trigger management system 102 are shared among aplurality of users that request access to the media content. Thebandwidth or memory efficient use of the schedule database 114Afacilitates the management and delivery of services to more number ofconcurrent service requests from more number of users.

The event trigger management system 102 may facilitate real-timerendering of personalized lists on delivery platforms and clientapplication engine 116A, and therefore, the transient attention span ofthe user on a watched media item may be converted to a sustainedattention span by displaying the personalized lists for a longer periodof time on the client application engine 116A or on the one or moredelivery platforms. The intent as well as interest of the user torequest services for the selected product or service offerings increaseswith continuous display of the personalized list over the media content.The response time and intent score of the user with respect to theinteractive items may advantageously facilitate determination ofinterests of the user and therefore, provide an efficient way topersonalize the interests and target the user with different services.Further, the delivery of reverse bidding service while streaming themedia content facilitates the user to provide a desired price for theproduct or service offerings and therefore, facilitates negotiation ofprice for desired product or service offerings in real time.

In an aspect, certain embodiments of the present disclosure may be foundin a method and system for management and delivery of services on a userdevice that streams from a distribution network managed by a firstservice provider. Various embodiments of the present disclosure mayprovide a system that may include one or more circuit (hereinafter,“circuitry”) in an event trigger management system, which handlesdelivery of one or more service on the user device. The circuitry may beconfigured to determine one or more media items present in media contentof a distribution network. One or more interactive items may be furtheroverlaid over the determined one or more media items present in themedia content of the distribution network. The circuitry may be furtherconfigured to receive one or more event triggers, from a clientapplication engine operational on the user device and associated with auser. The one or more event triggers may be received based on aselection of the one or more interactive items overlaid over the one ormore media items in the media content of the distribution network. Apersonalized list may be further generated based on the received one ormore event triggers for the overlaid one or more interactive items overthe one or more media items in the media content. The generatedpersonalized list may comprise one or more list items that correspond tothe received one or more media items in the media content of thedistribution network. The circuitry may be further configured to displaythe generated personalized list with the media content on the clientapplication engine, for defined time duration. The display of thepersonalized list for the defined time duration may increase an intentscore of the user to request the one or more services for a specificoffering that corresponds to the one or more list items of thepersonalized list.

The distribution network, the client application engine and the eventtrigger management system are collectively owned and managed by a firstservice provider. In accordance with an embodiment, the circuitry may befurther configured to deliver the one or more services on one or moredelivery platforms or the user device associated with the user. Thedelivery of the one or more services may be based on a selection of oneor more user-selectable options in the personalized list, displayed withthe media content of the distribution network. In an implementation, auser-selectable option for a service may correspond to an option toshare the one or more list items in the personalized list on a socialplatform that comprises a group of users. In another implementation, auser-selectable option for a service may correspond to an option topurchase the product or service offerings in the one or more list itemsin the personalized list. In another implementation, a user-selectableoption for a service may correspond to an option to provide a reversebid for the one or more list items in the personalized list.

In accordance with an embodiment, the determination of the one or moremedia items in the media content may be based on a defined list of mediaitems time-scheduled to be inserted in the media content of thedistribution network. Alternatively, the one or more media items in themedia content may be determined based on content recognition of themedia content.

In accordance with an embodiment, the circuitry may be furtherconfigured to identify playback time of the one or more media items inlive media content of the distribution network. The one or more mediaitems in the live media content may be determined based on theidentified playback time of the one or more media items in the livemedia content.

The one or more event triggers may correspond to one or moreinteractions provided by the user for the one or more media items thatmay be played with the media content of the distribution network. Theone or more interactions may be provided based on the selection of theone or more interactive items displayed over one or more media items.The one or more interactive items may be selected based on one of atouch input, a gesture input, a haptic feedback input, a voice input, ora specialized circuitry for real-time wireless selection of the one ormore interactive items.

In certain embodiments, the one or more media items in the media contentmay be further associated with at least an item identifier and playbacktime in the media content of the distribution network. The media contentmay correspond to a video stream that may be provided to the clientapplication engine via a distribution service. The media content maycomprise at least one of live media content, Video-On-Demand (VOD) mediacontent, and scheduled linear media content. The one or more media itemsmay further include promotional content that comprises graphicalcontent, textual content, video content and animated content.

The circuitry may be further configured to insert one or more itemidentifiers with the one or more media items to be packaged with themedia content, at the distribution network. The one or more media itemmay be detected at playback time of the one or more media items in themedia content based on the detection of the inserted one or more itemidentifiers with the one or more media items. The circuitry may befurther configured to overlay the one or more interactive items for thedetected the one or more media items in the media content, at theplayback time of the one or more media items. Each of the one or moreitem identifiers may correspond to an audio-based, an image-basedbeacon, or a data-based beacon that may be inserted or encoded with themedia items to be packaged with the media content. Such item identifiermay be derived from the media items.

In accordance with an embodiment, the circuitry may be furtherconfigured to display the generated personalized list on one or moredelivery platform associated with the user. In accordance with anembodiment, the circuitry may be further configured to update thegenerated personalized list based on the selection of the one or moreinteractive items and one or more user-selectable options.

The circuitry may be further configured to notify the user with one ormore notifications through the client application engine or one or moredelivery platform associated with the user. The one or morenotifications may be notified to the user based on the selection of theone or more interactive items and the one or more user-selectable optiondisplayed with the personalized list.

In another aspect, certain embodiments of the present disclosure may befound in a method and system for management and delivery of services, bya first service provider, on a user device that streams from a firstdistribution network or a second distribution network, managed by asecond service provider or a third service provider, respectively.Various embodiments of the present disclosure may provide a system thatmay include one or more circuit (hereinafter, “circuitry”) in an eventtrigger management system, which handles delivery of one or more serviceon the user device. The circuitry may be configured to generate one ormore interactive items based on a request received from at least one ofa first distribution network and a second distribution network. The oneor more interactive item may be overlaid over the one or more mediaitems present in media content of at least the first distributionnetwork or the second distribution network. The circuitry may be furtherconfigured to activate the overlaid one or more interactive itemsoverlaid over the one or more media items of at least the firstdistribution network or the second distribution network. The circuitrymay be further configured to receive one or more event triggers, from aclient application engine operational on the user device and associatedwith a user. The one or more event triggers may be received based on aselection of the enabled one or more interactive items that maycorrespond to the one or more media items of at least the firstdistribution network or the second distribution network. A personalizedlist for the received one or more event trigger based on the selectionof the one or more interactive items. The generated personalized listmay comprise one or more list items that correspond to product orservice offerings promoted with the one or more media items in the mediacontent of at least the first distribution network or the seconddistribution network. The circuitry may be further configured totransmit the generated personalized list, for display for defined timeduration, to at least one of the first distribution network, the seconddistribution network or the client application engine operational on theuser device. The display of the personalized list for the defined timeduration may increase an intent score of the user to request the one ormore services for a specific offering that may correspond to the one ormore list items of the personalized list.

The event trigger management system may be owned and managed by a firstservice provider, the first distribution network and the clientapplication engine are owned and managed by a second service provider,and the second distribution network is owned and managed by a thirdservice provider, and wherein the first service provider is differentfrom the second service provider and the third service provider. Inaccordance with an embodiment, the first distribution network may be aprogramming media network and the second distribution network may be anon-programming media network.

The received one or more event triggers may be associated with one ormore item identifiers for the one or more media items of the mediacontent of at least the first distribution network or the seconddistribution network. The one or more item identifiers may comprise anaudio-based, an image-based beacon, or a data-based beacon that may beinserted or encoded with the media content. Such identified may bederived based on the media items. The one or more event triggers may beassociated with a device address for the client application engine orthe user device that generated the one or more event triggers. The oneor more interactive items may correspond to one or more interactiveoptions to be graphically overlaid over the one or more media items ofthe media content.

In accordance with an embodiment, the circuitry may be furtherconfigured to determine one or more attributes of the one or more mediaitems in the media content based on the received request from at leastthe first distribution network or the second distribution network. Theone or more attributes may comprise at least one of a set of digitalvideo fingerprints and a set of digital audio fingerprints.Alternatively, the one or more attributes of the one or more media itemsin the media content may be determined based on content recognition ofthe one or more media items in the media content of at least the firstdistribution network or the second distribution network.

In accordance with an embodiment, the circuitry may be furtherconfigured to provide one or more executable identifiers and the one ormore interactive items for the one or more media items of the mediacontent, which may be received from at least the first distributionnetwork or the second distribution network. The circuitry may be furtherconfigured to control insertion of the one or more executableidentifiers and the one or more interactive items with the media contentfrom at least the first distribution network or the second distributionnetwork. The controlled insertion of the one or more executableidentifiers may be based on integration with the client applicationengine, operational on the user device. The circuitry may be furtherconfigured to receive the one or more event triggers from the clientapplication engine at playback time of the one or more media items,which may be further enabled with the one or more executable identifiersand the one or more interactive items. The personalized list may befurther generated for the user based on the received one or more eventtriggers from the client application engine and the generatedpersonalized list may be transmitted to the client application engine.

In accordance with an embodiment, the circuitry may be furtherconfigured to receive the one or more media items from at least thefirst distribution network or the second distribution network. The oneor more interactive items may be inserted over the received one or moremedia items received from at least the first distribution network or thesecond distribution network. The circuitry may be further configured totransmit the one or more media items inserted with the one or moreinteractive item, to one of the first distribution network or the seconddistribution network. In response, the circuitry may be furtherconfigured to receive the one or more event triggers from the clientapplication engine, at playback time of the one or more media iteminserted with the one or more interactive items. The personalized listfor the user may be further generated based on the one or more eventtriggers received from the client application engine and the generatedpersonalized list may be transmitted to the client application engine.

As utilized herein the terms “circuits” and “circuitry” refer tophysical electronic components (i.e. hardware) and any software and/orfirmware (“code”) which may configure the hardware, be executed by thehardware, and/or otherwise be associated with the hardware. As usedherein, for example, a particular processor and memory may comprise afirst “circuit” when executing first one or more lines of code and maycomprise a second “circuit” when executing second one or more lines ofcode. As utilized herein, “and/or” means any one or more of the items inthe list joined by “and/or.” As an example, “x and/or y” means anyelement of the three-element set {(x), (y), (x, y)}. As another example,“x, y, and/or z” means any element of the seven-element set {(x), (y),(z), (x, y), (x, z), (y, z), (x, y, z)}. As utilized herein, the term“exemplary” means serving as a non-limiting example, instance, orillustration. As utilized herein, the terms “e.g. and for example” setoff lists of one or more non-limiting examples, instances, orillustrations. As utilized herein, circuitry is “operable” to perform afunction whenever the circuitry comprises the necessary hardware andcode (if any is necessary) to perform the function, regardless ofwhether performance of the function is disabled, or not enabled, by someuser-configurable setting.

The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particularembodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of embodiments ofthe present disclosure. As used herein, the singular forms “a”, “an” and“the” are intended to include the plural forms as well, unless thecontext clearly indicates otherwise. It will be further understood thatthe terms “comprises”, “comprising,”, “includes” and/or “including”,when used herein, specify the presence of stated features, integers,steps, operations, elements, and/or components, but do not preclude thepresence or addition of one or more other features, integers, steps,operations, elements, components, and/or groups thereof.

Further, many embodiments are described in terms of sequences of actionsto be performed by, for example, elements of a computing device. It willbe recognized that various actions described herein can be performed byspecific circuits (e.g., application specific integrated circuits(ASICs)), by program instructions being executed by one or moreprocessors, or by a combination of both. Additionally, these sequence ofactions described herein can be considered to be embodied entirelywithin any non-transitory form of computer readable storage mediumhaving stored therein a corresponding set of computer instructions thatupon execution would cause an associated processor to perform thefunctionality described herein. Thus, the various aspects of the presentdisclosure may be embodied in a number of different forms, all of whichhave been contemplated to be within the scope of the claimed subjectmatter. In addition, for each of the embodiments described herein, thecorresponding form of any such embodiments may be described herein as,for example, “logic configured to” perform the described action.

Another embodiment of the present disclosure may provide anon-transitory machine and/or computer readable storage and/or media,having stored thereon, a machine code and/or a computer program havingat least one code section executable by a machine and/or a computer,thereby causing the machine and/or computer to perform the steps asdescribed herein to obtain a global workflow sequence.

The present disclosure may also be embedded in a computer programproduct, which comprises all the features enabling the implementation ofthe methods described herein, and which when loaded in a computer systemis able to carry out these methods. Computer program in the presentcontext means any expression, in any language, code or notation, of aset of instructions intended to cause a system having an informationprocessing capability to perform a particular function either directlyor after either or both of the following: a) conversion to anotherlanguage, code or notation; b) reproduction in a different materialform.

Further, one of those skill in the art will appreciate that the variousillustrative logical blocks, modules, circuits, algorithm, and/or stepsdescribed in connection with the embodiments disclosed herein may beimplemented as electronic hardware, computer software, firmware, orcombinations thereof. To clearly illustrate this interchangeability ofhardware and software, various illustrative components, blocks, modules,circuits, and steps have been described above generally in terms oftheir functionality. Whether such functionality is implemented ashardware or software depends upon the particular application and designconstraints imposed on the overall system. Skilled artisans mayimplement the described functionality in varying ways for eachparticular application, but such implementation decisions should not beinterpreted as causing a departure from the scope of the presentdisclosure.

The methods, sequences, and/or algorithms described in connection withthe embodiments disclosed herein may be embodied directly in firmware,hardware, in a software module executed by a processor, or in acombination thereof. A software module may reside in RAM memory, flashmemory, ROM memory, EPROM memory, EEPROM memory, registers, hard disk, aremovable disk, a CD-ROM, or any other form of storage medium known inthe art. An exemplary storage medium is coupled to the processor suchthat the processor can read information from, and write information to,the storage medium. In the alternative, the storage medium may beintegral to the processor.

While the present disclosure has been described with reference tocertain embodiments, it will be noted understood by, for example, thoseskilled in the art that various changes and modification could be madeand equivalents may be substituted without departing from the scope ofthe present disclosure as defined, for example, in the appended claims.In addition, many modifications may be made to adapt a particularsituation or material to the teachings of the present disclosure withoutdeparting from its scope. The functions, steps, and/or actions of themethod claims in accordance with the embodiments of the presentdisclosure described herein need not be performed in any particularorder. Furthermore, although elements of the present disclosure may bedescribed or claimed in the singular, the plural is contemplated unlesslimitation to the singular is explicitly stated. Therefore, it isintended that the present disclosure not be limited to the particularembodiment disclosed, but that the present disclosure will include allembodiments falling within the scope of the appended claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A system comprising memory and one or moreprocessors communicatively coupled to the memory, the one or moreprocessors configured to: generate at least one interactive item basedon a request received from at least one of a first distribution networkor a second distribution network managed by different service providers;and in response to a selection of a content delivery scenario from aplurality of content delivery scenarios by at least one of the firstdistribution network or the second distribution network, initiate aninsertion of an overlay of the at least one interactive item over atleast one media item present in media content, wherein the media contentcomprises at least one of programming media and non-programming mediastreamed from at least one of the first distribution network or thesecond distribution network, wherein the plurality of content deliveryscenarios comprise a first content delivery scenario managed by an eventtrigger management system, a second content delivery scenario associatedwith a defined list of media items, and a third content deliveryscenario based on a schedule provided by the first distribution networkor the second distribution network.
 2. The system according to claim 1,wherein the selection is based on a set of parameters associated withthe at least one of the first distribution network or the seconddistribution network.
 3. The system according to claim 1, wherein, inaccordance with the first content delivery scenario of the plurality ofcontent delivery scenarios, the at least one interactive item isoverlaid over the at least one media item present in the media contentplayed at a user device by the event trigger management system.
 4. Thesystem according to claim 1, wherein, in accordance with the secondcontent delivery scenario of the plurality of content deliveryscenarios, the circuitry is further configured to: transmit one or moreexecutable identifiers and interactive items for media items, specifiedin the defined list of media items, to the first distribution network orthe second distribution network; and control, at the first distributionnetwork or the second distribution network, an insertion of the one ormore executable identifiers at one or more time slots for the mediaitems within the media content, wherein the insertion is controlledbased on access and control of the first distribution network, thesecond distribution network or a client application engine.
 5. Thesystem according to claim 1, wherein, in accordance with the thirdcontent delivery scenario of the plurality of content deliveryscenarios, the at least one interactive item is inserted in the mediacontent of the first distribution network or the second distributionnetwork by the event trigger management system based on the scheduleprovided by the first distribution network or the second distributionnetwork.
 6. The system according to claim 1, wherein the one or moreprocessors are further configured to: receive at least one eventtrigger, from a client application engine operational on a user deviceassociated with a user, for a selection of the at least one interactiveitem that corresponds to the at least one media item of the mediacontent of at least the first distribution network or the seconddistribution network; and generate a personalized list for the receivedat least one event trigger for the selection of the at least oneinteractive item.
 7. The system according to claim 6, wherein thegenerated personalized list comprises at least one list itemcorresponding to the at least one media item in the media content of atleast the first distribution network or the second distribution network;and transmit the generated personalized list, for a display for adefined time duration, to at least one of the first distributionnetwork, the second distribution network or the client applicationengine operational on the user device, wherein the display of thepersonalized list for the defined time duration increases an intentscore of the user to request at least one service for a specificoffering that corresponds to the at least one list item of thepersonalized list.
 8. The system according to claim 6, wherein thereceived at least one event trigger is associated with at least one itemidentifier for the at least one media item of the media content of atleast the first distribution network or the second distribution network.9. The system according to claim 8, wherein the at least one itemidentifier comprises an audio-based, an image-based beacon, or adata-based beacon that is inserted or encoded in the media content, andwherein the set of parameters comprises network bandwidth utilization,device-performance degradation, and computational resource utilization.10. The system according to claim 1, wherein the first distributionnetwork is owned and managed by a first service provider, and the seconddistribution network is owned and managed by a second service provider,and wherein the first service provider is different from the secondservice provider.
 11. The system according to claim 1, wherein the firstdistribution network is a programming media content network and thesecond distribution network is a non-programming media network.
 12. Thesystem according to claim 1, wherein the one or more processors arefurther configured to determine at least one attribute of the at leastone media item in the media content based on the received request fromat least the first distribution network or the second distributionnetwork.
 13. The system according to claim 12, wherein the at least oneattribute comprises at least one of a set of digital video fingerprintsor a set of digital audio fingerprints, and wherein the at least oneattribute of the at least one media item in the media content isdetermined based on content recognition of the at least one media itemin the media content of at least the first distribution network or thesecond distribution network.
 14. The system according to claim 1,wherein the one or more processors are further configured to: receivefrom at least the first distribution network or the second distributionnetwork at least one executable identifier and the at least oneinteractive item for the at least one media item of the media content;initiate an insertion of the at least one executable identifier and theat least one interactive item with the media content from at least thefirst distribution network or the second distribution network based onan integration with a client application engine, operational on the userdevice; receive the at least one event trigger from the clientapplication engine at a playback time of the at least one media item,enabled with the at least one executable identifier and the at least oneinteractive item; generate a personalized list for the user based on theat least one event trigger received from the client application engine;and transmit the generated personalized list to the client applicationengine.
 15. The system according to claim 14, wherein the at least oneevent trigger is associated with an item identifier and a device addressof the client application engine or the user device that generated theat least one event trigger, and wherein the at least one interactiveitem corresponds to at least one interactive option to be graphicallyoverlaid over the at least one media item of the media content of thefirst distribution network or the second distribution network.
 16. Acomputer-implemented method, comprising: generating, by one or moreprocessors, at least one interactive item based on a request receivedfrom at least one of a first distribution network or a seconddistribution network managed by different service providers; and inresponse to a selection of a content delivery scenario from a pluralityof content delivery scenarios by at least one of the first distributionnetwork or the second distribution network, initiate an insertion of anoverlay of the at least one interactive item over at least one mediaitem present in the media content, wherein the media content comprisesat least one of programming media and non-programming media streamedfrom at least one of the first distribution network or the seconddistribution network, wherein the plurality of content deliveryscenarios comprise a first content delivery scenario managed by an eventtrigger management system, a second content delivery scenario associatedwith a defined list of media items, and a third content deliveryscenario based on a schedule provided by the first distribution networkor the second distribution network.
 17. The computer-implemented methodaccording to claim 16, wherein the selection is based on a set ofparameters associated with the at least one of the first distributionnetwork or the second distribution network.
 18. The computer-implementedmethod according to claim 16, wherein, in accordance with the firstcontent delivery scenario of the plurality of content deliveryscenarios, the at least one interactive item is overlaid over the atleast one media item present in the media content played at a userdevice by the event trigger management system.
 19. Thecomputer-implemented method according to claim 16, wherein, inaccordance with the second content delivery scenario of the plurality ofcontent delivery scenarios, the computer-implemented method includes:transmitting, by the one or more processors, one or more executableidentifiers and interactive items for media items, specified in thedefined list of media items, to the first distribution network or thesecond distribution network; and controlling, by the one or moreprocessors, at the first distribution network or the second distributionnetwork, an insertion of the one or more executable identifiers at oneor more time slots for the media items within the media content, whereinthe media content comprises at least one of programming media andnon-programming media streamed from at least one of the firstdistribution network or the second distribution network, wherein theinsertion is controlled based on access and control of the firstdistribution network, the second distribution network or a clientapplication engine.
 20. One or more non-transitory computer-readablestorage media including instructions that, when executed by one or moreprocessors, cause the one or more processors to: generate at least oneinteractive item based on a request received from at least one of afirst distribution network or a second distribution network managed bydifferent service providers; and in response to a selection of a contentdelivery scenario from a plurality of content delivery scenarios by atleast one of the first distribution network or the second distributionnetwork, initiate an insertion of an overlay of the at least oneinteractive item over at least one media item present in media content,wherein the plurality of content delivery scenarios comprise a firstcontent delivery scenario managed by an event trigger management system,a second content delivery scenario associated with a defined list ofmedia items, and a third content delivery scenario based on a scheduleprovided by the first distribution network or the second distributionnetwork.